KSE gains momentum, rises 75.5 pts as Zain rallies 40 fils

Kuwait stocks gained momentum on Sunday spurred by buying in select middle level and blue chips across the sectors. The market, after posting modest gains in the last session, soared 75.5 points in volatile trading paced by Burgan Bank and Zain. The lender rallied 60 fils while Zain rose 40 fils.

Most of the heavyweights closed in the negative region. Agility bled 100 fils, the maximum permitted single day drop, while National Industries fell 20 fils. KSE index rose 0.6 percent to 13,336 points amid a slight drop in volume turnover. Notable among other gainers, KIPCO rallied 40 fils while most of the banking stocks closed flat.

The market betrayed mixed sentiments during the previous week, closing up in three of the five sessions. It saw a steep plunge of 212 points on Tuesday and has shed 125 points week on week, dragged by downbeat global and regional markets. The bourse is up 6.62 percent this year sliding from a peak of 13436.2 points reached on 16th of the month.

Marginally

The sectoral indices mostly swung higher. Banking sector climbed 0.8 percent led by Burgan Bank and KFH even as NBK remained unchanged. Investment sector rose 0.5 percent on back of KIPCO and Al Safat Investment Co. The two sectors makes for the bulk of the shares traded in the bourse.

Real estate fell marginally while industrials inched 0.1 percent up, helped by gains in some of the middle level stocks. Services sector rose 0.6 percent led by Zain and IFA (Hotels and Resorts).
In the bourse related news, ALARGAN international has increased the capital of its subsidiary ASSAHEL Co which owns Movenpick Resort, to KD 20 million. Boubyan International Industries Holding intends to request for its listing in Kuwait Stock Exchange. The company with a capital of KD 30 million, had distributed cash dividends of 15 percent in 2007.

Agility said on Sunday that it would consider bidding for a contract to supply food to US troops in Iraq, a contract it has now which the US military might retender. Agility won the original contract in 2003 when the United States invaded Iraq and was subsequently extended for another year. The next extension is tipped to be worth as much as $ 2.8 billion.

Zain has started the syndication of $ 1.2 billion Islamic loan which will refinance a loan that matured last month, Reuters quoted a banking source.
The volume of shares fell 6.7 percent to 387.7 million after rising above the 400 million mark on Thursday. The market volume has been encouraging during the month as against the levels in the closing weeks of the 2007.

Banking sector dropped 39.7 percent while investment sector rose slightly aided by brisk trading in Ektittab Holding Co. Real estate fell 14 percent volume wise while industrials surged by more than one-third of its previous level led by United Industries Company. Services tapered 10 percent with blue chips except Agility posting thin volumes.

Kuwait’s biggest banks, National Bank of Kuwait ( NBK) and Islamic lender Kuwait Finance House ( KFH), posted contrasting fourth quarter results on Wednesday as both expand abroad to offset competition at home. Net income of KFH, the larger of the two by market value, almost tripled to KD 98.39 million ($360.4 million ) in the three months while NBK registered its first decline in profit in at least three years and its smallest since 2005.

Iskan Financing, a subsidiary of Housing Finance Co., announced that it is negotiating, with a non-listed company, to sell a stake of a project in which Iskan owns a 60 percent stake.

Mubarrad Transport Co. (MUBARRAD) announced the commencement of the process of hike in the company’s capital after due approval by the general assembly. The shareholders registered in the company’s records as on date 19/11/2008 will be eligible to subscribe for shares issued during the 100 percent capital increase.
The market opened on a weak note and fell sharply as nervous investors quitted positions to limit their losses.

The index bottomed out at 13,252 points and recovered quickly thereafter. It rose above the red past the mid-session and moved rose gradually in a moderate range for the rest of the session.

Downturn

The recent downturn in global equity market has sent ripples to the local markets, pushing the KSE significantly down, according to leading domestic investment company. Global Investment House in it weekly report has said that the drop in KSE index is linked to the negative reports about the American economy which in turn had caused jitters among the traders. However the decision by the Central Bank of Kuwait to cut the discount rate by 50 points to 5.75 percent helped limit the losses.

Reflecting the slightly upbeat mood, market spread was skewed in favor of the winners. 55 stocks advanced while 49 closed lower. Of the 151 counters active on Sunday, 55 closed unchanged. 9932 deals worth KD 190.3 million were transacted — down 12.9 percent in value terms over earlier session.

Top percentage gainer, Eyas vaulted 8.3 percent to KD 0.325 while Al Safat Investment climbed 6.4 percent to stand next. Agility shed 7.1 percent, the steepest decliner of the day, while Ektittab Holding topped the volumes with over 56 million shares changing hands.

Agility bled 100 fils to KD 1.300 trading over 7.3 million shares while Zain rose 40 fils to end at KD 4.040. Wataniya Telecom fell 20 fils while Kuwait Gulf Links lost 10 fils to close at KD 0.510. Sultan Center too dropped 25 fils and TWG closed 10 fils lower at KD 0.680.

NBK, Commercial Bank of Kuwait and ABK all closed flat while Gulf Bank fell 20 fils to KD 1.900. Kuwait Finance House rose a modest 20 fils while KIB did not budge from it earlier close.
KIPCO rallied 40 fils on back of 10 million shares while National Investment Co advanced 30 fils. IIG and Investment Dar did not move in either direction and Noor Investment and Financial Co fell 10 fils to KD 0.520.

National Industries Group shed 20 fils to KD 1.840. The company has received an approval from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to increase its capital at its annual general meeting on January 27, 2008. Kuwait Foundry Co jumped 40 fils on thin trading while Kuwait Cement Co closed flat.
NREC dropped 25 fils to KD 0.495 on a volume turnover of 4.1 million while Salhiya Real Estate took in 10 fils to end at KD 0.660. Jeezan Real Estate fell 15 fils while Mabanee remained unchanged.

Elsewhere in the region, markets all closed up. Saudi Al Tadawul All Stocks Index rallied 292.06 points after bleeding heavily during the previous week. Dubai Financial Market rose 1.19 percent to settle at 5668.87 points while the less liquid Abu Dhabi jumped 101.67 points.

Oil meanwhile jumped to near $ 91 a barrel on Friday, lifted by a broad equity rally amid optimism about a US economic stimulus plan aimed at staving off a recession in the world’s top energy consumer. US crude rose $ 1.44 to $ 90.82 a barrel after rising as high as $ 91.38. It had jumped nearly 3 percent on Thursday to settle at $ 89.41 a barrel.

Thursday’s stimulus plan pushed up global stock indexes giving oil a fillip despite mildly bearish US weekly inventory data which showed that domestic crude supplies rose 2.3 million barrels last week, slightly above analysts expectations.


KUNA adds:
Capital value of Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) declined by 2.45 percent last week to 59.09 billion Kuwaiti Dinars (KD), Bayan Investment Company said Saturday.

It said in a weekly report about the KSE that capital value of all sectors of the market suffered a decrease with the exception of the food sector, which gained 0.74 percent to KD 1.3 billion.
The plunging sectors were led by the services, which dove 4.72 percent to KD 13.4 billion, said the report.

The industry sector’s capital value was KD 5.7 billion, retreating by 3.5 percent, it noted.