(MENAFN- Arab Times) Kuwait stocks retreated Monday, snapping the 3-day advance. The index pared steeper losses to close 11.25 pts lower at 5994.59 points as profit taking weighed on select mid and low caps.
The blue chips closed narrowly mixed even as the investors await the financial earnings. KSE had breached the 6000 mark in the previous session. The KSX 15 measure climbed 4.26 points to 1002.5 points and is up 2.5 points since its introduction in mid-April while the weighted index edged 0.78 points up.. The volume turnover meanwhile swelled past the 500 million mark for the first time during the month. 516. 89 million shares changed hands - up 14.8 percent from Monday.
Sector-wise, oil and gas outpaced the rest with 2 percent gain whereas healthcare dived 2.20 percent, the steepest decliner of the day. In terms of volume, financial services garnered the highest market share of 44.86 percent and real estate came in next with 36.19 percent.
United Projects Co tumbled 50 fils erasing the gains in the previous session and Advanced Technology Co followed suit to wind up at KD 0.610. Automated Systems Co shed 25 fils with razor thin trading volume. Kuwait National Cinema Co slid 30 fils to KD 0.900 and Kuwait Portland Cement was down 20 fils at KD 0.960.
Bourse heavyweight Zain gave up slight early gains to close unchanged at KD 0.720. The stock has slipped 20 fils from start of the month and has tumbled 160 fils year-to-date. Wataniya Telecom held the ground unchanged at KD 2.560 erasing strong gains earlier in the day.
Agility eased 10 fils to KD 0.530 after stagnating on Sunday. The company has issued a statement saying it had no news to explain the advance seen in its stock price in last two months.
Volume
"Agility sees the movement on its shares in terms of value of the stock or the volume of trades as normal and has no news or data that may justify any extraordinary movement on the stock," the company said in a bourse statement on Sunday. The bourse opened weak and drifted lower in early trading. The index continued to erode amid selling pressure in select counters and hit the day's lowest level of 5974.02 points past the mid-session. It clawed back thereafter and managed to trim the losses some of the losses at close.
Top gainer of the day, BIHC rallied 9.26 percent to 59 fils and Ithmar climbed over 9 percent to stand next. Kuwait Business Town dived 10 percent, the biggest decliner of the day, and Gulf Finance House topped the volume with 75.56 million shares.
Mirroring the day's fall, the losers slightly outnumbered the winners. 48 stocks advanced whereas 53 closed lower. Of the 144 counters active on Monday, 43 closed flat. 7454 deals worth KD 30.67 million were transacted - a 21.62 percent rose in value from the day before.
KSE eked modest gains in September on hopes of a resolution of the political impasse."The opposition are likely to perform strongly in the next parliamentary elections, leading to a continued difficult relationship between the National Assembly and the cabinet," EFG Hermes said in a note earlier in the month.
On the plus side, National Industries Group edged 2 fils higher to KD 0.226 and RISCO added 10 fils to close at KD 0.230. The company has posted a 190 percent surge in first half earnings to KD 1.6 million, against while the second-quarter profit soared 163.2 percent year-over-year to KD 1.22 million.
Gulf Cables climbed 20 fils to KD 1.140 and Kuwait Cement Co ticked 5 fils higher. Mabanee Co added 20 fils recouping the drop in the previous session while Kuwait Food Co (Americana) climbed 20 fils to KD 1.620. The stock has added 20 fils so far during the month and is has rallied 140 fils year-to-date.
In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait rose 10 fils to KD 1.000 with a volume of 1.19 million shares and Commercial Bank of Kuwait was up by same measure at KD 0.720. Gulf Bank was flat at KD 0.440 after gyrating in a tight range earlier in the day.
Slipped
Al Ahli Bank of Kuwait slipped 10 fils to KD 0.640 whereas Ahli United Bank was unchanged at KD 0.890. Burgan Bank stagnated at KD 0.520 off early lows. The lender has obtained the approval of Central Bank of Kuwait to renew the approval for buying back or selling a maximum of 10 percent of its issued shares for 6 months from the expiration of previous approval.
Kuwait International Bank was flat at KD 0.265 and Boubyan Bank too did not budge from its previous close of KD 0.620. Kuwait Finance House held unchanged at KD 0.760 after vacillating in narrow range. Fitch Ratings has affirmed Kuwait Finance House's Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at 'A+' with a Stable Outlook. However, the agency has downgraded KFH's Viability Rating (VR) to 'bb'.
International Financial Advisors inched 0.5 fils lower after trading over 3 million shares and National Investment Co pulled up shallow trough to end flat at KD 0.116. KIPCO was up 5 fils at KD 0.400 and Noor Financial Investment Co ticked 2 fils up.
Al Maal Investment Co was unchanged at 37 fils with a volume of over 2 million shares and Bayan Investment Co followed suit. KAMCO pulled 10 fils lower. The company has obtained the Capital Market Authority approval to buy-back or sell up to 10 percent of own shares over the period starting Sept 17, 2012.
Osoul Investment Co inched 1 fils lower to 66 fils while Sokouk Holding Co ended steady at 57 fils. Securities Group Co climbed 8 fils.. The company has obtained Capital Market Authority approval to sell and buy back up to 10 percent of own shares during the period from Sept 17, 2012 till March 17, 2013.
The bourse has been mixed so far during the week and has inched 0.69 pts lower in last two sessions. It has added 4.05 points so far during the month and is up 3.5 percent year-to-date. KSE, with 213 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.
In the bourse related news, Al-Madar Finance and Investment Co has recorded a loss of KD 4.6 million and loss per share of 22.51 fils in the first six months of 2012 rising sharply from KD 2.6 million and 13.08 fils LPS in 2011 H1. In the. second quarter, the losses amounted to KD 4 million.
Boubyan Petrochemicals Co, has posted profit of KD 101,000 or 0.21 fils per share in the 3-month period ending 31 July 2012, falling 88.1 percent from KD 850.5 thousand and EPS of 1.76 fils in the same period last year.
Securities House Co has posted net loss of KD 1,165,040 and loss per share of 1.8 fils in the January-June period as compared to net loss of KD 16,397,844 and loss per share of 25.7 fils in the same period last year.
Housing Finance Co has logged a net profit of KD 61.714 and earnings per share 0.21 fils in the first six months of 2012 as compared to net loss of KD 2.975.336 and loss per share of 10.15 fils in the 2011 H1.
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