KUWAIT CITY, 20 February 2004 — Kuwaiti shares closed trading yesterday slightly lower during a holiday-shortened week, due to profit-taking and the aftermath of the largest deal in the emirate’s history, traders said.
The Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) index finished the week at 5,296.30 points, down 0.2 percent on last week’s closing of 5,308.40 points, despite setting a new all-time high of 5,355.60 points on Feb. 22. The index has already gained 10.6 percent on the 2003 closing of 4,790.20 points.
The market opened trading Sunday, following Saturday’s holiday, with the news about the largest ever trade on the exchange, a three-way deal between National Telecommunications Co. (Wataniya Telecom) and several major companies.
The deal involves breaking the old alliance in Wataniya Telecom between Kuwait Investment Projects Co. (KIPCO), a holding company owned by Sheikh Hamad Al-Sabah, son of Kuwait’s prime minister, and businessman Mahmoud Haider. Haider sold his seven percent stake in Wataniya in exchange for cash and over 200 million shares in Bank of Kuwait and the Middle East (BKME) in a deal worth $480 million.