BUSINESSARAB TIMES, TUESDAY, JULY 2, 2019

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Turkish lira soars nearly 2.8 pct

The Turkish lira soared nearly 2.8% on Monday to its strong-est level since April after Presi-dent Tayyip Erdogan said he heard from US President Donald Trump there would be no sanc-tions over Turkey’s purchase of Russian S-400 defence systems.

On track for its biggest daily jump in weeks, the lira at 1308 GMT stood at 5.63 against the dollar, its best reading since April 8. The currency closed at 5.7875

on Friday, before Erdogan met Trump at the G20 summit in Ja-pan at the weekend.

Turkey’s 5-year CDS slipped 14 bps over a 5-year period to 384 bps, its lowest since early April, according to IHS Markit data.

NATO allies Turkey and the United States have been at odds over the S-400s purchase, with Washington warning of US sanc-tions if the delivery took place.

The dispute has been a source of concern for investors, putting pressure on the lira.

The United States says the S-400s will compromise its Lock-heed Martin Corp F-35 fi ghter jets, of which Turkey is a produc-er and buyer. Washington has also formally started the process of expelling Turkey from the F-35 programme, halting the training of Turkish pilots in the United States. (RTRS)

Kuwait ‘opens’ monthwith modest increase

KFH rallies 6 fi ls, Ooredoo slips

By John MathewsArab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, July 1: Kuwait stocks extended last session’s gains on Monday as it kicked off the month on a fi rm note. The All Shares Index, after a wobbly start, rose 10.57 points to 5,842.70 pts led by some of the blue chips even as the overall mood remained fi ckle.

The Premier Market climbed 14.53 pts to 6,391 points taking the year’s gains to 123 points while Main Market tripped 2.41 pts to settle at 4,768.94 points. The volume turnover meanwhile shrank following Sunday’s up-swing. Over 116 million shares changed hands – down 25 pct from the day before.

Among the individual shares, Kuwait Finance House rallied 6 fi ls on back of 11.5 million shares to 720 fi ls and Hu-mansoft Holding vaulted 124 fi ls to KD 3.175 erasing Sunday’s losses. UPAC jumped 22 fi ls to 437 fi ls with thin trad-ing and NAPESCO gained 10 fi ls.

Zain eased 1 fi l to 528 fi ls after trad-ing 8.4 million shares while Ooredoo slipped 5 fi ls to 665 fi ls. Kuwait Tel-ecommunications Co (VIVA) slipped 7 fi ls to 793 fi ls while Agility gave up 6 fi ls before settling at 762 fi ls with a vol-ume of 1.8 million.

The market opened fi rm and headed south in early trade. The main index plumbed the day’s lowest level of 5,816.21 points and drifted sideways briefl y before clawing back into the green territory amid buying in select counters. It sagged slightly again past the mid-session and revved up to close with modest gains.

Top gainer of the day, REAM soared 9.9 pct to 188 fi ls and AQAR climbed 9.8 pct to stand close behind. QIC skid-ded 26 pct, the steepest decliner of the day and Kuwait International Bank topped the volume with 12.9 million shares changing hands.

National Industries Group ticked 1 fi l higher to 228 fi ls on back of over 8 mil-lion shares while Mezzan Holding stood pat at 620 fi ls with thin trading. Bou-byan Petrochemical Co scaled 11 fi ls to close at 900 fi ls and Al Qurain Pet-rochemical Co tripped 1 fi l. Integrated Holding Co gave up 4 fi ls partly erasing Sunday’s gains.

Jazeera Airways rose 9 fi ls to 964 fi ls while ALAFCO eased 1 fi l to 250 fi ls. Mashaer Holding dialed down 2 fi ls whereas Energy Holding and ACICO Industries took in 2 fi ls each to close at 24.3 fi ls and 128 fi ls respectively. Ku-wait Foundry Co stood pat at 267 fi ls and Gulf Cable slipped 4 fi ls to 394 fi ls.

Kuwait Portland Cement Co eased 1 fi l to KD 1.199 and Kuwait Cement Co gave up 4 fi ls with thin trading. Hilal Cement Co climbed 10 fi ls to 118 fi ls and Gulf Cement Co closed 2.7 fi ls up at 54.9 fi ls. Equipment Holding Co added 0.8 fi ls and IFA Hotels and Re-sorts fell 3 fi l to 42 fi ls.

Combined Group Contracting Co eased 1 fi l to 187 fi ls and Automated Systems Co slipped 7.8 fi ls to 77.7 fi ls. Educational Holding Group gained 7 fi ls and Warbacap slipped 6.5 fi ls to 73.5 fi ls. Gulf Petroleum Investment Co ticked 0.2 fi l into green.

Kuwait and Gulf Links Transport Co inched 0.1 fi l higher to 79 fi ls and

Biggest one-day fall since June 18

Global rally lifts most of Gulf

Italy bond yields slide on data, trade talks

Saudi index extends gains

KGL Logistics trimmed 0.9 fi l. KCPC and KPPC were fl at at 217 fi ls and 56.5 fi ls respectively whereas Heavy Engi-neering Industries and Shipbuilding Co tripped 1 fi l. NICBM gave up 3 fi ls be-fore ending at 182 fi ls.

In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait eased 1 fi l to 977 fi ls and Gulf Bank was unchanged at 303 fi ls after trading over 8 million shares. Ku-wait International Bank slipped 5 fi ls to 269 fi ls with brisk trading and Boubyan Bank dialed up 2 fi ls.

Burgan Bank rose 3 fi ls on back of 3.3 million shares to 353 fi ls and Com-mercial Bank dialed up 2 fi ls. Al Ahli Bank added 3 fi ls whereas Al Muta-hed and Ahli United Bank held ground at 315 fi ls and 263 fi ls respectively.

KIPCO fell 2 fi ls to 218 fi ls and Gulf Finance House dialed up 1.7 fi ls. KMEFIC added 2.8 fi ls whereas Kuwait Investment Co and National Investment Co closed fl at at 122 fi ls and 110 fi ls respectively. FACIL too did not budge from its earlier close of 197 fi ls.

Kuwait Financial Centre ( Markaz) trimmed 0.9 fi l while Coast Investment Co and Securities House Co dialed up 0.4 fi l each before ending at 37.2 fi ls and 45.1 fi ls respectively. Aayan In-vestment eased 0.4 fi l to 45 fi ls while

ALOLA and Al Mal Investment gave up 06 fi ls each to end at 36.1 fi ls and 13.2 fi ls respectively.

KAMCO and KFIC clipped 1 fi l each to close at 84 fi ls and 37 fi ls re-spectively while Bayan Investment Co eased 0.6 fi l to 43 fi ls. NIH added 1.5 fi ls and Unicap paused at 52 fi ls with razor thin trading. Madar Finance ticked 1 fi l into red.

Noor Financial Investment Co added 2.5 fi ls while Tamdeen Investment Co and Al Imtiaz dialed down 2 fi ls each before ending at 308 fi ls and 136 fi ls respectively. Asiya took in 1.3 fi ls and Al Deera Holding ticked 0.1 fi l into red. Ektittab Holding clipped 1.6 fi ls.

Mabanee Co rose 2 fi ls to 711 fi ls and National Real Estate Co trimmed 0.8 fi l. Mazaya Holding tripped 1.5 fi ls and United Real Estate Co gave up 0.9 fi l. Aqar Real Estate climbed 6.8 fi ls to 75.7 fi ls.

The bourse has been upbeat so far during the weak gaining 30 pts in last two sessions. It rallied 101 pts during whole of June and is trading 763 pts higher year-to-date. Boursa Kuwait, with 176 listed stocks, is the second largest market in the region.

LONDON, July 1, (RTRS): Italian and Greek government bond yields fell on Monday, as encouraging eco-nomic data and an agreement by the United States and China to resume trade talks boosted demand for riskier assets.

After a slow start, buying gathered momentum and 10-year Italian gov-ernment bond yields fell 8 basis points to 2%, their lowest since May 2018. That pushed the spread over top-rated Germany to 234 bps from around 242 bps late Friday .

The move marks the biggest one-day fall in Italian 10-year yields since June 18, when comments by European Central Bank President Mario Draghi raised the prospect of more stimulus and bond yields fell across the euro-zone.

Greece’s 10-year yield was last down over 10 bps to a record-low 2.352%. Portuguese 10-year yields also edged towards record lows and were down 1.4 bps on the day at 0.464% .

“Healthier risk sentiment globally and the still strong performance in core bond markets means more and more investors are taking on credit risk, and that means buying Italian and Greek bonds,” said Peter Chatwell, head of rates strategy at Mizuho.

Data painted a mixed picture of the Italian economy on Monday. Manu-facturing activity declined for the ninth month running in June, but the jobless rate fell below 10% for the first time since 2012.

“Greece alongside Italy are tighten-ing the most,” said Christoph Rieger, rates strategist at Commerzbank. “There have been a few stories, like better tax collection in Italy after elec-tronic VAT, which fit the picture.”

Factory activity fell in the euro-zone overall, with IHS Markit’s final Purchasing Managers’ Index for June falling to 47.6, its fifth month below the 50 level separating growth from contraction.

“Europe’s manufacturing sector continues to shrink noticeably, indicat-

ing that a rate cut by the ECB is likely to remain a foregone conclusion,” said Marc-André Fongern, a strategist at MAF Global Forex in Frankfurt.

Attention is also focussing on who will be taking the European Union’s top jobs. Leaders are close to picking Dutch socialist Frans Timmermans to head the European Commission, two diplomats said on Monday, though talks have been suspended until Tues-day.

Who will take over the ECB presi-dency has not been decided, but the na-tionality of the new Commission head will offer clues at least on where the next ECB boss will come from.

“Any non-German EU Commission President clearly improves the chances for a German ECB President, which is the key thing markets will be looking out for,” said Christoph Rieger, rates strategist at Commerzbank.

German 10-year bond yields were flat around -0.32%. French 10-year yields slipped into negative territory again at -0.014%, a record low .

DUBAI, July 1, (RTRS): Saudi Ara-bia’s stock market rose for a fifth straight day on Monday as most major Gulf bourses gained, reflect-ing positive global market sentiment after the United States and China reached a trade war truce. Saudi’s in-dex was up 0.4% with banks leading gains. Al Rajhi Bank rose 0.9% and Arab National Bank climbed 2.9%. The index is up 13% this year, led by foreign investors, who have been net buyers of Saudi equities in recent months.

Three of five tranches of Saudi stocks have joined the FTSE emerg-ing market index this year and com-pleted the first phase of joining the MSCI emerging market benchmark in May, with the second phase due in August. “We estimate that the MSCI inclusion process will see more than $13 billion of passive flows coming in to the Saudi market in 2019,” said Hootan Yazhari, head of MENA & frontier markets research, Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Assuming Saudi will have around 3% weight in the FTSE emerging market index would add “upwards of another $6 billion”.

Tihama Advertising And Public Relations And Marketing Hold-ing moved 2.7% higher after post-ing a higher full-year profit. Insurer Medgulf gained 1.8% after it agreed 115.6million riyals ($30.83 million) of settlement with the General Au-thority Of Zakat and Tax. Qatar’s index rose 1% to climb for a third straight session. Qatar Islamic Bank was 1.8% higher and petrochemical maker Industries Qatar was up 1.7%.

The index has gained in recent sessions as a 10-to-one stock split for companies on the exchange is being phased in from June9, in a bid to boost liquidity by encourag-ing smaller investors to buy shares.

Dubai’s index rose 0.6% after regis-tering a one-month high percentage gain in the last session. Banks were the biggest boost with a 1.2% rise in Dubai Islamic Bank and a 0.9% gain in Emirates NBD.

The emirate’s largest lender Emir-ates NBD surged 4.1% on Sunday after the bank received regulatory approval to buy shares in Turkey’s Denizbank from Russia’s Sberbank. Kuwait’s index was up 0.2%, regis-tering its third consecutive gain. Last week, index compiler MSCI said it would upgrade Kuwaiti equities to its main emerging markets index in 2020, a move that could trigger bil-lions of dollars of inflows from pas-sive funds.

Middle Eastern funds plan to con-tinue increasing their investments in Kuwait over the next three months, a Reuters poll found. The Abu Dhabi index traded flat with market heavy-weight First Abu Dhabi Bank shed-ding 0.3%. The Egyptian stock ex-change was closed for a holiday.

Saudi ArabiaThe index rose 0.4% to 8,853 points

Abu DhabiThe index traded flat at 4,979 points

Dubai The index rose 0.6% to 2,674 points

QatarThe index was up 1% at 10,560

points

Bahrain The index was up 0.3% at 1,476

points

Oman The index fell 0.2% to 3,876 points

Kuwait The index rose 0.2% to 6,392 points