Shares of 22 Islamic firms see upticks -- report

KUWAIT, Nov 27 (KUNA) -- The shares of 22 Islamic companies out of 57 listed on Kuwait Stock Exchange's (KSE) board saw increases whereas 19 others did not in this week's market activity, a KFH weekly report indicated on Friday.
The KSE Price Index closed at 5,794.64, up by 69.23 points as all the indices closed in gains. The KSX-15 closed at 943.56 up 9.57 points; while the Islamic Index MUDX gained 1.19% to close at 576.40 during the week, said the report.
The markets have been muted amid recent Turkey-Russia tensions resulting in investors being more vigilant which is exhibited by the dismal trading volumes, noted the report.
The Weekly volumes stood at 656.17 million shares compared to 662.92 million shares in the previous week, a decline of 1.0%. Among the major contributors Financial Services Sector (contributing 32.14%) reported 211.56 million shares of trading compared to 259.44 million shares in the previous week, while Real Estate Sector (contributing 25.99%) witnessed 170.52 million shares of trading compared to 175.37 million shares in the previous week, indicated the report. Sectors with surge in volumes include; Telecommunications sector (contributing 12.01%) reported 60.28% increase in volumes as the sector saw a surge in volumes across the board. Hits Telecom Holding Co. (Mcap - KWD 27.04 million) saw 53.44 million shares exchanged during the week compared to 26.66 million shares last week. Further, Kuwait Telecommunications Co - VIVA (Mcap - KWD 539.35 million) witnessed 17.61 million shares of volumes as the company disclosed, last week, that it has received an offer from their parent company STC to increase its stake in the company to 100% which is still awaiting approval, said the report. The other sector with exceptional volumes was the Oil & Gas sector (Contributing 9.21%) saw volumes to the tune of 60.45 million compared to 29.54 million previous week. Among counters, Gulf Petroleum Investment Co (Mcap - KWD 21.061 million) witnessed 46.63 million shares.
The overall Market Cap was up by 0.4% as it stood at KWD 26.80 billion. National Bank of Kuwait - NBK (Mcap - KWD 4.18 billion) remained steady, while Mobile Telecommunication Co - Zain (Mcap - KWD 1.59 billion) also remained unchanged during the week. The Islamic market cap was up by 1.39% to close at KWD 7.07 billion, as it performed better than the overall market. The key contributor was Kuwait Telecommunications Co - VIVA (Mcap - KWD 539.35 million) which saw its market cap move up by 11.34% during the week. Among the Islamic heavyweights Kuwait Finance House - KFH (Mcap - KWD 2.76 billion) saw its market cap move up by 1.75%, said the report. (end) fnk.ajs