BUSINESSARAB TIMES, TUESDAY, JULY 11, 2017

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Kuwait ekes modest gains,volume hits six-week high

Humansoft Holding jumps 64 fi ls; VIVA dipsBy John MathewsArab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, July 10: Kuwait stocks rose further on Monday extending its winning streak to fifth con-secutive session. The bourse climbed 24.97 pts in volatile trade to 6,784.54 pts helped by modest gains by banks and other heavy-weights. Some of the mid-caps too shone on specula-tive buying.

The KSX 15 index rose 4.44 pts to 913.94 points while weighted index was up 1.65 pts at 400.81 points. The volume turnover meanwhile soared to hit a 6-week high . Over 88 million shares changed hands — a 72 pct surge from the day before.

Among the day’s notable movers, Kuwait Finance House rose 3 fils to 487 fils on back of over 2 million shares recouping last session’s loss-es and Mabanee Co was up 5 fils at 760 fils. Humansoft Holding, the highest priced stock of the bourse, jumped 64 fils to KD 4.260.

Zain rose 5 fils to 417 fils on back of 2.7 million shares and Ooredoo climbed 12 fils to KD 1.100 extend-ing Sunday’s strong gains. Kuwait Telecommunications Co ( VIVA) dipped 23 fils to 797 fils and Agility powered 31 fils higher.

National Bank of Kuwait inched 1 fil up to 685 fils and Gulf Bank took in 2 fils. The bank has posted a 6.7 pct increase in first quarter prof-it in to KD 9.36 million from KWD 8.77 million in Q1 of 2016.

The market opened flat and rose sharply in early trade. The main index dipped thereafter to plumb the day’s lowest level of 6710.9 points and edged higher amid spurt in buying. It revved up in the sec-ond half and closed with modest gains.

Top gainer of the day, National Cleaning Co rallied 19 pct to 48.8 fils while Tahssilat climbed 18 per-cent to stand next. Ajwan slumped 20 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Al Imtiaz topped the vol-ume with 19.7 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s gains, the winners outnumbered losers two to one. 71 stocks advanced whereas 36 closed lower. Of the 124 counters active on Monday, 17 closed flat.

National Industries Group rose 3

fils to 125 fils extending Sunday’s modest gains and Gulf Cable was down 3 fils at 430 fils. Heavy Engineering Industries and Shipbuilding Co slipped 7 fils to 209 fils while Metal and Recycling Co inched 0.9 fil into red.

Jazeera Airways was flat at 475 fils and ALAFCO dialed up 2 fils before closing at 317 fils. Boubyan Petrochemical Co dropped 10 fils and Al Qurain Petrochemical Co gave up 3 fils. Equipment Holding inched 0.5 fil into green.

NICBM rose 4 fils to 184 fils and Acico Industries dropped 4 fils. The company’s first quarter profits rose by 0.78 pct to KD 3.88 mln as com-pared to KD 3.85 million in Q1 of 2016. Zimah Holding dialed down 1.5 fils to end at 49 fils.

NAPESCO slid 49 fisl to KD 1.560 and Kuwait National Cinema Co tumbled 320 fils. The company has registered a 26.17 pct jump in profits to KD 3.23 million during the first quarter of 2017 from same period in 2016.

ClimbedKuwait Foundry Co climbed 14

fils to 265 fils and Educational Holding Group dipped 18 fils to 349 fils. Kuwait Cable Vision Co paused at 31 fils and Automated Systems Co fell 3 fils to 181 fils. AWJ Holding paused at 75 fils.

Burgan Well Drilling Co pulled 9 fils up with thin trading and EYAS For Higher and Technical Education soared 49 fils to 899 fils. YIACO dropped 21 fils to 161 fils and Al Rai Media Group clipped 1 fils. Mezzan Holding climbed 20 fil to 940 fils.

In the banking sector, Commercial Bank rose 2 fils to 311 fils extend-ing an identical uptick in the last session and Al Mutahed gained 8 fils. Al Ahli Bank was not traded during the session.

Burgan Well Drilling Co fell 2 fils to 330 fils and Boubyan Bank took in 2 fils, Kuwait International Bank added 4 fils on back of over 1 million shares and Warba Bank was up 8 fils at 266 fils.

KIPCO fell 2 fils to 333 fils after trading 3.4 million shares and National Investment Co stood pat at 103 fils. International Financial Advisors crept 0.8 fil higher with a volume of over 1 million and Coast Investment Co closed 1.1 fils up.

KAMCO took in 1 fil and Securities House Co edged 1.4 fils into green. Arzan slipped 1.9 fils to 32 fils and Aayan Investment Co dialed up 1.3 fils. Osoul Investment

Co held ground at 59 fils and Al Madina Finance and Investment Co took in 2 fils.

Bayan Investment Co rose 2.1 fils to 50.8 fils and Sokouk Holding eased 0.3 fil. KFIC gained 4.8 fils and Noor Financial Investment Co inched 1 fil into green.

Tamdeen Investment Co was unchanged at 300 fils and Al Deera Holding ticked 0.6 fil higher. Gulf Insurance Co dipped 29 fil and Warba Insurance Co was down 5.8 fil at 72 fils.

National Real Estate Co rose 5 fils to 113 fil and Salhiya Real Estate Co clipped 1 fils. Mazaya Holding dialed up 1 fils and Ream climbed 11 fils to 399 fils. Abyaar Real Estate Co inched 0.7 fils up and Remal added 3 fils to close at 80 fils.

The market has been upbeat so far during the week and has gained 68 points in last two session. It has climbed 85 points so far during the month and is trading 17.4 pct high-er year-to-date. KSE, with 188 list-ed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Kuwait Finance and Investment Co (KFIC) rebounded to post a net profit of KD 146,350 in the first three months of 2017, from KD 255,510 loss in first quarter of 2016. Operating income grew 76% year-on-year to reach KD 1.65 million.

Aayan Real Estate has recorded a 164.7 percent jump in its profits to KD 536,890 for the first quarter of 2017 from same period in the year before. During 2016, the profit saw a 1.5% uptick to KD 2.75 million in 2016 from the previous year.

Ooredoo Kuwait has posted 26.6 pct jump in profits during the first quarter of 2017 to KD 12.93 million from KD 10.21 million in same period last year. It had recorded a growth of 75% in profits to KD 46.67 million during 2016.

Mowasat Healthcare has regis-tered a a 40.2% increase in net profits in the first quarter of 2017, to reach KD 1.92 million as com-pared to KD 1.37 million in the year before period.

Al Ahleia Insurance ‘s first quar-ter net profit dropped by 14.5% in the first to KD 2.88 million from KD 3.37 million in Q1 of 2016. Operational income dipped 39.6 pct to KD 1.58 million.

National Ranges Company’s (Mayadeen) losses shrank by 18.2 pct in the first quarter of 2017 to KD 642,620 from about KWD 785,610 in same period of 2016.

Sadara Chemical starts propylene glycol plant

Sadara Chemical Co, a $20 billion joint venture between Saudi Aramco and US fi rm Dow Chemical, has started produc-tion at its propylene glycol plant, moving closer to full operation of the JV’s petrochemicals com-plex.

Propylene glycol is used in food and fl avourings, cosmetics and fragrances as well as paints and coatings.

The Sadara complex, com-

prising 26 integrated facilities in Jubail, eastern Saudi Arabia, is the world’s largest petrochemi-cal facility to be built in a single phase.

“We are nearing the fi nish line and the teams are all working tirelessly to bring up the few re-maining facilities,” a spokesman for Sadara said.

He declined to give a specifi c date for the start of full opera-tions.

Previous statements said all facilities were scheduled to be commissioned by the end of this year.

Sadara started its mixed-feed cracker last year. It is the fi rst company in any member state of the six-country Gulf Coopera-tion Council to crack naphtha and ethane.

It has the capacity to produce more than 3 million tonnes of products per year. (RTRS)

Strong Q2 boosts Saudi

Indices advance on global cuesDUBAI, July 10, (RTRS): Middle East markets followed global shares higher on Monday and Saudi Arabia’s stock index was bolstered by strong quarterly reports and div-idend announcements.

For now, unease about an end to the era of ultra-cheap money has given way to optimism about glob-al growth, with Friday’s stronger-than-expected US non-farm pay-rolls report bolstering risk appetite. Data on Monday showed exports from Germany, Europe’s biggest economy, rose more than expected in May.

The pan-European STOXX 600 rallied 0.4 percent, with banks being one of the strongest sectors.

In Saudi Arabia, shares of United Electronics Company (Extra) surged by their 10 percent daily limit to 36.90 riyals, their highest close since January 2016.

The company had earlier report-ed second-quarter net income of 43.4 million riyals ($11.57 mil-lion), up 287.5 percent from the prior year period.

In a separate statement, the board approved a cash dividend of 0.75 riyals per share for first half of 2017, the company’s first dividend distribution since 2015.

The positive mood spilled into other consumer-related shares, with Extra’s chief competitor Jarir gain-ing 2.0 percent.

Analysts have been expecting improvement in the retail sector in the second quarter from a year before because of the government’s

decision to reinstate civil servants’ allowances and because of the Muslim month of Ramadan, which typically sees a rise in sales.

The Riyadh index added 1.0 per-cent as all 12 of the listed banks rose. Banque Saudi Fransi surged 8.7 percent in heavy trade after the board recommended a cash divi-dend of 1.05 riyals per share for the first half of this year, almost double the cash distributed in the prior year period.

Egypt’s blue-chip index added 1.1 percent, recovering from a small drop on Sunday. Shares of media conglomerate Orascom Telecom gained 3.0 percent after it reported first-quarter net income of 388.5 million Egyptian pounds ($21.74 million) versus 48.73 mil-lion pounds in the same period a year ago.

Shares of the largest listed lender Commercial International Bank rose 1.8 percent.

Qatar’s index climbed 1.0 per-cent, with four-fifths of the total market turnover coming from local investors, bourse data showed.

Twenty-six of the traded compa-nies rose, including heavyweight Qatar National Bank, which added 1.9 percent, while 11 shares declined.

In Abu Dhabi, natural gas explor-er Dana Gas fell 1.4 percent on profit taking.

Shares of the commodity com-pany have been volatile since late June when Dana declared it would not make payments on $700 mil-

lion of Islamic bonds maturing in October because Islamic finance standards had changed since the instruments were issued four years ago.

The index edged down 0.3 per-cent in relatively thin trade.

Dubai’s index rose 0.5 percent as shares of developer Union Properties climbed 1.7 percent. Twelve other shares rose while 11 declined.

Saudi Arabia■ The index rebounded 1.0 per-

cent to 7,237 points.Dubai

■ The index added 0.5 percent to 3,418 points.

Abu Dhabi■ The index fell 0.3 percent to

4,398 points.

Qatar■ The index gained 1.0 percent

to 8,995 points.

Egypt■ The index rose 1.1 percent to

13,483 points.

Kuwait■ The index added 0.4 percent to

6,749 points.

Bahrain■ The index fell 0.1 percent to

1,308 points.Oman

■ The index rose 0.5 percent to 5,159 points.

Mideast Stocks