JEDDAH, 9 December 2005 — The Kuwait stock market continued its upward momentum in November. The Kuwait-based Global Investment House’s benchmark “Global” General Index increased by 7.48 percent at 334.13 points. During the last six months, the Global General Index has registered a handsome gain of 43.72 percent. Overall, the index has reported YTD gain of 74.85 percent at the end of November. The market capitalization of the stock exchange reached 43.01 billion dinars, a growth of 9.89 percent compared to October. The Kuwait Stock Exchange’s price index is edging closer to the 12,000-point mark and closed for the month at 11,869.1 points, an increase of 3.47 percent over the previous month.
The KSE index closed at 11,781.90 points on Wednesday.
The volume of shares traded declined 4.75 percent to 5.67 billion shares as compared to October. The value of shares traded followed the upbeat trend and increased by 6.36 percent aggregating to 3.39 billion dinars.
“Positive news flows from the macro perspective, high oil prices and some more contracts signed by the Kuwaiti companies have led to an improved market sentiment which in turn helped the Kuwait stock exchange gain confidence of the investors,” Global said in its monthly report.
Kuwait Projects Company Holding (KIPCO) was the star performer in terms of both volume and value of shares traded in November. KIPCO along with other institutional investors such as Hamad Al-Wazzan Group, Al-Hassawi Group and Fouad Al-Ghanem Group will form a new airline company under the name “National Airline Company” with a capital of 50 million dinars ($170.35 million), where 35 million dinars or 70 percent of the capital will tapped through public subscription this month. KIPCO also signed a memorandum of understanding with Abdali Investment & Development Company to become a strategic partner in the urban regeneration project in Jordan, where KIPCO’s total investment will be amounting to $400 million. As a result of these positive developments, the stock appreciated by 21.8 percent to end the month at 475 fils.
All the indices with the exception of the real estate and food sector saw an upward movement last month. The “Global” Banking Sector Index climbed 13.82 percent to end the month at 340.95 points. The profits of listed companies under the banking sector during the first nine months improved to 474.76 million dinars as compared to 316.91 million dinars recorded for the corresponding period last year.
Industrial Sector Index was among the top performers with a substantial increase of 11.62 percent recorded for the month. The profits of listed companies under the industrial sector more than doubled during the first nine months, reporting an increase of 119.52 percent compared to corresponding period last year. National Industries Group Holding (NIG) reported a profit of 94.31 million dinars during the first nine months, recording a whopping increase of 235.97 percent. As a result, the stock appreciated by 29.5 percent and crossed the 2-dinar mark for the first time during the year.
Out of the eight sectors, only the investment sector has a YTD gain of more than 100 percent at the end of November. The profits of listed company under the investment sector during the first nine months were more than doubled compared to the corresponding period last year, reporting an increase of 122.63 percent. International Investment Group’s (IIG’s) nine months profit improved to 15.77 million dinars as compared to 1.02 million dinars recorded for the corresponding period last year, registering a gain of 1441.19 percent. The stock price of IIG in 2005 appreciated by 423.5 percent to end the month at 890 fils as compared to 170 fils at the end of December 2004.
The market breadth was marginally positively with 76 stocks advancing and 65 stocks declining, while 12 stocks remained unchanged. The major advancers in November included Aayan Real Estate Company (+54.2 percent), Metal & Recycling Company (+45.7 percent), Kuwait Slaughterhouse Company (+33.9 percent) and International Leasing and Investment Company (+29.8 percent). The major decliners included International Investment Projects (-21.3 percent), Kuwait Building Materials Manufacturing Company (-14.5 percent), Gulf Rocks Company (-13.9 percent) and International Industrial Projects Group (-12.9 percent).
The market added two new companies in November. Al-Safat Investment Company and Burgan Holding Group Company were listed under the investment sector, which increased the total number of listed companies to 153. So far, 28 new companies have been added to the market in 2005.