35BUSINESS ARAB TIMES, MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2015

KSE index falls 51.76 ptslower to 5,571.93 points

Bourse marks 31.83 pct drop in volume

By Cinatra FernandesArab Times Staff

KUWAIT CITY, Dec 20:Kuwait stocks plunged 51.76or 0.92% lower to 5571.93points at the start of the weekas low risk attitudes pre-vailed. The bourse marked a31.83% drop in volume fromlast week’s close. The weight-ed index ebbed 0.94 pointslower to 380.46 points.

The KSE benchmark slipped 0.14points lower to 902.02 points. Thenumber of trades stood at 2,008 witha low volume of 54.13 million sharesexchanged for a value of KD 7.58million. The bourse slipped under inearly trade and failed to make a turnto the green during the session,extending losses in the final hour. Atotal of 122 counters remained activewith only 22 closing in the green. 71companies closed in the red and 29closed flat.

Kuwait Food Company(Americana) led the pack of gainerswith a 4.21% rise to KD 1.980 whileBoubyan Petrochemical Companyfollowed in close step with a 4%increase to 520 fils. IFA Hotels &Resorts Co stood at 174 fils shareprice logging a 3.57% positivechange while Gulf Cable & ElectricalIndustries Co finished at 375 fils witha 2.74% increment. Al Rai MediaGroup Company shifted 2.6% higherto 158 fils.

Kuwait Cable Vision took a 10%hard fall to 22.5 fils while NoorFinancial Investment Companyclosed at 50 fils with a 9.095 cut.ACICO Industries Co shifted 8.77%lower and Al-Massaleh Real EstateCo slid 8.47% under to 54 fils. Al-Safat Energy Holding slumped to12.5 fils with a 7.41% downturn.

Al-Madina For Finance AndInvestment Co traded the top volumeof the day with 6.99 million sharesexchanged, Investors Holding GroupCompany saw a robust activity of4.97 million shares and TheSecurities House traded 3.92 millionshares on the trading floor. Al Dar

National Real Estate Co also moved3.85 million shares while 2.5 millionshares of National Bank of Kuwaitwere traded.

Telecommunications closed at593.82 points, 4.77 points higher withsignificant reductions in volume andvalue traded as compared to the previ-ous session, albeit amounting to 8.17%of the total market volume and 20.63of the total market value. Viva made a10 point leap to KD 1 while MobileTelecommunications Company – Zainclimbed 5 points for a 345 fils finishand traded 2.258 million shares in thesession. Ooredoo held ground at KD1.040 while Hits Telecom Holding Coclosed flat at 28 fils.

Banks closed 0.57% lower at 901.3points. The sector accounted for13.93% of the total market volumeand nearly half of the total marketvalue. National Bank of Kuwaitclosed flat at 810 fils, trading 2.55million shares for a value of KD 2million. Kuwait Finance Houseslipped 10 points lower to 550 filsand trading 1.19 million shares whileBoubyan Bank closed flat at 435 filsand traded 1.57 million shares.

Gulf Bank and KuwaitInternational Bank logged no changein share price from the previous ses-sion, finished at 265 fils and 220 filsrespectively. Meanwhile Al AhliBank of Kuwait and Burgan Banktook 5 point cut to 365 fils and 380fils respectively. Warba bankskimmed 2 points lower to 196 filsand Ithmaar Bank skimmed 0.5points lower to 42 fils.

The financial services sectorclosed at 593.6 points, 1.16% lowerwith marked decreases in volume andvalue exchanged from last week’sclose. Al-Madina For Finance AndInvestment Co made a 2 point retreatto 33.5 fils while The SecuritiesHouse slid 2.5 points lower to 37.5fils and National Industries Groupmade a 2 point depress to 124 fils.Privatization Holding Companyclambered 1 point higher to 55 filsand Ekttitab Holding Co shed 0.5points for a 29.5 fils close.

Real Estate slumped 1.33% tostand at 928.8 points. The sectoraccounted for 27.06% of the total

market volume and 8.53% of the totalmarket value. Mabanee Companystood firm at 950 fils while InvestorsHolding Group Company dropped1.5 points lower to 24 fils and Al DarNational Real Estate Co inched 1point lower to 27 fils. Al Mudon IntlReal Estate Co made a 0.5 point riseto 30.5 fils and The Commercial RealEstate Co stood at 81 fils with a 2point turn to the green.

Oil and gas sector stood at 778.6points marking a 1.58% downturn.Gulf Petroleum Investment fell 1point down to 52 fils andIndependent Petroleum Group took a6 point tumble to 242 fils. Al-SafatEnergy Holding and IkarusPetroleum Industries Co edged 1point downwards to 12.5 fils and 92fils respectively. Burgan CompanyFor Well Drilling, Trading &Maintenance slashing 8 points off itsshare price, ended the session at 116fils.

Industrials also closed at 1.045points in the red, enduring a 1.43%downturn. Agility PublicWarehousing Company took a 5point dip to 475 fils while ACICOIndustries Co crashed 25 pointslower to 260 fils and Sharjah CementAnd Industrial Development Co witha 2 point drop, closed at 82 fils.Kuwait Portland Cement Co faced a60 point hard fall to KD 1.060 andEquipment Holding Co inched 2points lower to 56 fils.

In consumer goods, Kuwait FoodCompany (Americana) made a 80point advance to KD 1.980 andDanah Al Safat Foodstuff Companyinched 1 point higher to 84 fils. In theconsumer services sector, KuwaitNational Cinema Co Fell by 20points to 900 fils and JazeeraAirways Co closed flat at 900 fils.Kuwait Resorts Company trailed 3points lower at 92 fils and ZimaHolding Co closed flat at 114 fils.

In the technology sector, HayatCommunication Co moved 1 pointhigher for a 47 fils share price. InBasic Materials, QurainPetrochemical Industries Companyclosed flat at 186 fils and BoubyanPetrochemical Company made a 20point jump to 520 fils.

EGP steady at forex sale and on black market

The Egyptian pound held steady atan official foreign currency auctionon Sunday and on the black market.

Egypt, which depends on import-ed food and energy, is facing a dol-lar shortage and mounting pressureto devalue the pound. The centralbank surprised markets when itstrengthened the pound on Nov 11by 20 piasters against the dollar.

It sold 39.4 million dollars at a cut-off price of 7.7301 pounds to the

dollar, unchanged from Thursday.The official rate is still far from the

black market, which was around8.58 pounds to the dollar onSunday, unchanged from Thursday.

Egypt’s reserves have tumbledfrom $36 billion in 2011 to $16.4 bil-lion in October, and the country hasbeen rationing dollars throughweekly dollar auctions to banks,keeping the pound artificially strong.

The country has been starved of

foreign currency since a popularuprising in 2011 ousted autocratHosni Mubarak and drove touristsand foreign investors away.

In February, the central bankimposed capital controls, limitingdollar-denominated deposits to$50,000 a month in an attempt tofight the black market. The movecaused problems for importers,who could no longer source theirforeign currency needs. (RTRS)

Mideast Stocks

Sentiment hit by weak oil prices, global equities

DUBAI, Dec 20, (RTRS): Stock mar-kets in Saudi Arabia and Dubai fellback on Sunday after oil pricesslumped further, while Abu Dhabiand Egypt were buoyed by bankingshares.

Brent crude settled at $36.88 a bar-rel on Friday after hitting a sessionlow of $36.41, just 21 cents above a2004 bottom. Meanwhile, globalbourses sank on economic growthworries, with the Dow closing over 2percent lower.

In response, the Saudi benchmarkretreated 1.6 percent to 6,931 points,erasing most of Thursday’s 2.6 per-cent jump. Sellers dumped blue chipsin the first hour and mostly sat out therest of the session, waiting for theannouncement of the kingdom’s2016 state budget, which is expectedin the coming week and may includemajor spending cuts.

Saudi Basic Industries, thebourse’s largest company by marketvalue, declined 2.5 percent. Banksector heavyweight Al Rajhi slumped3.7 percent.

Banking stocks had surged onThursday on hopes that higher inter-est rates would improve lending mar-gins, but “the so-called marketeuphoria following the US interestrate hike on Wednesday was short-lived,” said a Jeddah-based trader.

“Some traders turned a quick prof-it and sold positions, and they are notwilling to re-enter the market untilthe budget is announced.”

Dubai’s index, which had jumped2.9 percent on Thursday, fell back 1.5percent in thin trade on Sunday.

“The market lacked momentum tocarry on trading higher as tradersturned a quick profit and sold off,taking their cue from global marketsthat closed lower on Friday,” said a

regional fund manager.Real estate related stocks, which

make up most of Dubai’s marketvalue, declined. Arabtec andDAMAC Properties led the retreat,tumbling 3.7 and 3.0 percent respec-tively.

Abu Dhabi’s index recouped earlylosses and closed 0.2 percent higherin the heaviest trade since the begin-ning of the month, gaining for thethird straight session. First Gulf Bankrose 1.6 percent, and is up 11.7 per-cent over the past week.

Dana Gas, the most heavily tradedstock on the bourse, jumped 11.1 per-cent in its heaviest trading since July.

The surge was partly due to a“catch-up effect” after Dana’s shareswere suspended on Thursday, andpartly because of a statement issuedby Dana on Sunday reiterating that ithad settled a business dispute withGermany’s RWE and clarifyingdetails of the settlement, saidSanyalaksna Manibhandu, senioranalyst at Abu Dhabi’s NBADSecurities.

Qatar’s exchange was closed for anational holiday.

Cairo’s benchmark climbed 0.6percent in its fourth straight day ofgains, as Commercial InternationalBank added 1.9 percent. OnThursday, it had jumped 5.6 percentafter agreeing to sell investmentbanking subsidiary CI Capital toOrascom Telecom for 1 billionEgyptian pounds ($128 million).

Orascom fell 1.7 percent, erasingsome of Thursday’s gains, when itsurged 11.1 percent. OrascomTelecom plans to merge CI Capitalwith Beltone Financial, which itbought last month for almost 650million pounds; Beltone rose 10 per-cent on Sunday.

Foreign investors remain nervousabout hard currency shortages in thecountry and they — along with Arabtraders — were net sellers on Sunday,bourse data showed, while Egyptianswere net buyers.

Unlike most its Gulf counterparts,which hiked interest rates last week,Egypt’s central bank made no deci-sion on interest rates at its Thursdaymonetary policy committee meetingand said it would reconvene on Dec.24 following consultations with thegovernment on inflation andgrowth.

The meeting was the first under thecentral bank’s new governor, TarekAmer, who has led a drive to indi-rectly support the Egyptian poundand supply banks with foreign cur-rency liquidity despite dwindling for-eign reserves.

Saudi Arabia■ The index fell 1.6 percent to 6,931points.

Dubai■ The index declined 1.5 percent to3,026 points.

Abu Dhabi■ The index climbed 0.2 percent to4,156 points.

Egypt■ The index rose 0.6 percent to 6,708points.

Kuwait■ The index fell 0.9 percent to 5,572points.

Bahrain■ The index slipped 0.2 percent to1,195 points.

Oman■ The index slid 0.1 percent to 5,355points.

Saudi, Dubai slip in blue chip sell-off