KUWAIT: The key indices of Kuwait Stock Exchange (KSE) slid into the red zone yesterday amid a persisting lackluster atmosphere and absence of incentives in the market. Stocks under umbrella of the key index, Kuwait-15, dominated the operations, by approximately 80 percent of trading value. Stocks of the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) were valued at more than KD 2 million, while those of Kuwait Finance House stood at KD 1.6 million.

Stocks of the transport, financial services and insurance's sectors were in the green zone, amid selective trades on shares of the other sectors. Yesterday's activity focused on bullish shares of 22 companies, unlike those of 47 others that shed losses-among 115 companies that got involved in the deals.

Kuwait-15 index possessed 12.6 million shares, valued at more than KD 6.09 million, done in 363 spot transactions, thus the index closed at 810.63 points. Among the effective news at the market today was a report saying that JFH Group signed a MoU with Bank AlKhair to acquire most of its shares. Other attention-drawing news were those related to the financial revelations by the Kuwait-Egyptian Holding for Q2, 2016, which climbed 16 percent as compared to the same period of 2015. The profits were estimated at $10.98 million, in contrast to $9.47 million for Q2, 2015.

The Kuwait-Egyptian Holding's statement showed posting net profits amounting to $32.2 million for 1H, 2016, against $22.8 million the same period last year, growing by 40.7 percent.

The KSE ended trading in the red zone yesterday. The price index moved down 24.57 points to stand at 5,443.2 points, the weighted index was also down 1.51 points to read 348.95 points, and the KSX 15 index shed 2.66 points reaching 810.63. Value of trade was KD 8 million while the volume was 42 million shares, done through 1,380 deals. -KUNA