Kuwait stocks crept higher Thursday to end week on a bright note. The index rose 7.08 points in slightly volatile trade led by speculative buying in some of the mid and low caps even as the blue chips remained muted. The sentiment was skittish amid anemic trade as investors toed the side line ahead of the Eid Holidays.

The KSX 15 measure climbed 2.71 points whereas the weighted index was up 1.25 points at 396.23. The volume turnover meanwhile pulled lower ahead of the holidays. 80.97 million shares changed hands — a sharp 27.63 percent fall from Wednesday. It had hit the month’s high of 113.8 million earlier in the week, and has been largely anemic so far during the month.

Among the sectors, parallel market rallied 1.67 percent, outpacing the rest whereas technology, the worst performer slumped 2.13 percent. Volume-wise real estate mustered 36.78 percent of the market share and financial services stood next with 36.54 percent.
The Combined Group Contracting Co soared 40 fils to KD 1.240 and Mabanee Co followed suit to end at KD 1.120. Kuwait National Cinema Co rose 20 fils on thin trading while Oula Fuel Marketing climbed 15 fils. Commercial Facilities Co was up 20 fils on back of 0.21 million shares.

Market bellwether Zain closed flat at KD 0.690 off early lows and saw a volume turnover of 1.5 million shares and Agility too did not budge from the previous close of KD 0.405. The stock has gained 20 fils from start of the month and is trading 30 fils higher year-to-date.

Meanwhile Wataniya Telecom, which was suspended from last week of July, will start trading on Aug 22, according to bourse authorities. This follows Qatar Telecom’s announcement that it has received the nod from Kuwait’s Capital Markets Authority to buy a 47.5 percent stake in Kuwait’s telco for KD 622.4 million.

Flat
The market opened flat note and hovered below the red in early trade. The index moved range bound half way into the session before drifting lower on brief bout of profit taking in select counters. However, it clawed back in the final minutes and ended with modest gains.
Top gainer of the day, Safat Real Estate Co spiked 11.11 percent to 20 fils while Gulf Investment House climbed over 9 percent to stand next. Muntazahat slid 9.09 percent, the steepest decliner of the day, whereas Abyaar Real Estate topped the volume with 18.06 million shares.

Mirroring the day’s gain, the winners outnumbered the losers. 44 stocks advanced whereas 34 closed lower. Of the 110 counters active on Wednesday, 32 closed flat. 1730 deals worth KD 20.21 million were transacted — a 57.76 percent drop in value from the previous session.
Among other notable gainers, Aviation Lease and Finance Co rose 5 fils and Jazeera Airways too was up by same measure. The stock has eased 5 fils from start of the month while year-to-date, it has shed 50 fils. National Investment Co added 4 fils after pulling slightly lower on Wednesday and Al Mal Investment Co ticked 1 fils higher.

In the banking sector, National Bank of Kuwait pared early losses to close flat at KD 1.000 and Gulf Bank followed suit to wind up at KD 0.400. Commercial Bank of Kuwait was down 10 fils. CBK has posted a 5.4-percent drop in Q2 earnings to KD 1.22 million owing to heavy provisioning once again wiped out earnings growth.

Kuwait International Bank slipped 6 fils after trading 1.46 million shares wheras Ahli United Bank was not traded during the session. Kuwait Finance House was steady at KD 0.690 with a volume of 0.99 million shares.

Climbed
Boubyan Bank climbed 20 fils to KD 0.620 while Burgan Bank stagnated at KD 0.480. Moody’s has downgraded the lender’s global local currency (GLC) deposit and foreign currency deposit ratings to A3/Prime-2 from A2/Prime-1. The bank’s standalone bank financial strength rating (BFSR) was affirmed at D+.

Al Deera Holding inched 0.5 fils lower and Kuwait Investment Co pulled 3 fils lower. Tamdeen Investment Co ended flat and KIPCO to pulled up from early lows to end unchanged at KD 0.365.

National Industries Group fell 4 fils to KD 0.192 erasing the gains in the previous session. The Kharafi Group flagship company said Wednesday that it will repay its $ 475 million Islamic bond, or sukuk, maturing on August 16. Gulf Cables tumbled 40 fils.

Contracting and Marine Services Co dropped 10 fils whereas Kuwait Pipes closed flat at KD 0.100. The company has registered net loss of KD 2,852,658 and loss per share of 12.66 fils in the first half of 2012 as against net loss of KD 4,591,910 and loss per share of 20.37 fils in the same period last year.

The bourse has been upbeat during the week. It closed higher in 4 of the 5 sessions and is up 21 points week-on-week. The index is almost unchanged from start of the month and is trading 1.35 percent in red year-to-date. KSE, with 213 listed companies, is the second largest bourse in the region.

In the bourse related news, Noor Financial Investment Co has logged a net profit of KD 1.462.757 and earnings per share of 4 fils in January-June period rebounding from KD 4.899.448 loss and 13 fils loss per share in the same period last year.

Global Investment House has posted a net loss of KD 20,576,000 and Loss per share of 17 fils in the first half, narrowing from KD 38,693,000 and loss per share of 32 fils in 2011 H1.
Manafae Investment has slumped KD 301,243 into red in first six months of 2012 while the loss per share chalked 1.60 fils. This compares with net loss of KD 651,870 and loss per share of 3.48 fils in 2011 H1.

IFA Hotels and Resorts Co has incurred a net loss of KD 1,805,454 and loss per share of 4.19 fils as compared to KD 5,170,290 earning and 11.99 fils EPS in the same period last year.
Humansoft Holding has logged a net profit of KD 1,328,514 and earnings per share of 11.63 fils in H1 as against net profit of KD 425,634 and earnings per share of 3.77 fils in first half of 2011.