March 9, 2006	Thursday	Safar 8, 1427

KUWAIT, March 8: State-owned Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) will increase its stakes in investment funds after recent steep declines on the stock exchange, the country’s finance minister said on Wednesday.

The KIA has decided to increase its holdings in the investment funds which run its investments on the Kuwait Stock Exchange and to enter into new investment funds, the official KUNA news agency said in a brief report without elaborating.

The decision by KIA comes in order to benefit from the current prices on the exchange which are deemed to be very suitable, minister Badr al-Humaidhi told the agency.

Humaidhi said the decision was based on valuation, especially the price-to-earnings ratio, comparing Kuwait to other regional and world markets.

The KIA invests principally in investment funds whose portfolios are made up of listed companies.

The KIA was not available for comment.

It was the biggest one-day fall since the index lost 3.03 per cent on Oct. 13, 2003.—Reuters