Kuwait Financial Centre (Markaz) has achieved a turnaround with a net profit of KD18.51 million ($65.62 million) in the first half of 2007 compared to a net loss of KD1.46 million in the corresponding period last year.

Diraar Y Alghanim, chairman and managing director of Markaz, said: “This represents an increase of 1368 per cent in the net profit and 1567 per cent in the EPS. Assets under management totalled KD1.40 billion as of the end of Q2 2007'.

Markaz net profits for the first half 2007 resulted in KD5.93 million unrealised gains compared to KD9.16 million unrealised loss of the same period last year. Fees generated from Markaz’s asset management and investment banking activities reached KD5.80 million.

In terms of asset management achievements in the first half of 2007, Markaz launched its IPO and pre-IPO programme which participates in IPOs and Pre- IPOs predominantly focused on emerging markets. Markaz is also launching an Islamic Money Market Fund, in Q3 2007.

For H1, MSCI-GCC index posted returns of 9 per cent and GCC markets showed overall healthy market fundamentals and good levels of liquidity. As per the Kuwait Stock Exchange, the KIC index performed at 30 per cent for H1 and the options market in Kuwait performed impressively during this period, with volume of traded shares over KD465 million and a total value of over KD24.0 million.-TradeArabia News Service