By Santhosh V Perumal/Business Reporter
Sustained buying momentum at the telecom and banking counters yesterday extended the bull-run in the Qatar Stock Exchange for the third day, amid increased volumes.
Foreign institutions’ enhanced buying support led the 20-stock Qatar Index (based on price data) gain 0.31% to 13,742.22 points.
However, the index that tracks Shariah-principled stocks was seen melting compared to gains in the other indices in the market, which is up 32.4% year-to-date.
The Total Return Index rose 0.31% to 20,496.39 points and the All Share Index by 0.39% to 3,476.33 points; while the Al Rayan Islamic Index fell 0.58% to 4,702.29 points.
Domestic institutions turned net sellers on the bourse, where trading was largely skewed towards realty, banks and telecom stocks.
Market capitalisation gained 0.54%, or about QR4bn, to QR729.77bn. Large, small and micro cap equities rose 0.8%, 0.22% and 0.06% respectively; while mid caps fell 0.05%.
Telecom stocks appreciated 1.85%, followed by banks and financial services (0.9%) and insurance (0.14%); whereas real estate shrank 0.65%, followed by industrials (0.26%), consumer goods (0.17%) and transport (0.13%).
Major movers included Ooredoo, QNB, Commercial Bank, Doha Bank, International Islamic, Mannai Corp, Gulf International Services, Al Khaleej Takaful and Ezdan.
However, Industries Qatar, Qatar Islamic Bank, Masraf Al Rayan, Qatari Investors Group, United Development Company, Barwa and Nakilat were seen to buck the trend.
Ezdan and Salam International Investments were the most active in terms of both volume and value.
Foreign institutions’ net buying surged to QR63.32mn against QR5.84mn the previous day.
However, domestic institutions turned net sellers to the tune of QR52.06mn compared with net buyers of QR14.74mn on Monday.
Qatari retail investors’ net profit-booking rose to QR13.55mn against QR11.82mn the previous day.
Non-Qatari individual investors turned net buyers to the extent of QR2.28mn compared with net sellers of QR8.72mn on Monday.
Total trading volume rose 73% to 16.84mn shares, value by 83% to QR787.6mn and transactions by 61% to 7,559.
The real estate sector’s trading volume more than doubled to 7.9mn equities and value more than doubled to QR180.04mn on more-than-doubled deals to 1,848.
The industrials sector’s trading volume soared 65% to 1.22mn stocks, value more than doubled to QR108.02mn and transactions by 72% to 1,562.
The banks and financial services reported a 62% surge in trading volume to 4.43mn shares, 69% in value to QR359.79mn and 37% in deals to 2,754.
The insurance sector’s trading volume shot up 51% to 0.68mn equities, value by 78% to QR37.03mn and transactions by 49% to 308.
The transport sector witnessed its trading volume rise 19% to 0.32mn stocks, value by 35% to QR11.87mn and deals by 13% to 141.
However, the consumer goods sector’s trading volume shrank 16% to 0.74mn shares but value expanded 31% to QR36.84mn and transactions by 21% to 410.
The telecom sector’s trading volume was down 3% to 1.55mn equities whereas value added 35% to QR54.01mn and deals more than quadrupled to 536.
In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and government bonds.
Egypt shares rise on real estate; Saudi, Dubai pull back
Egypt’s bourse outperformed an otherwise sluggish region yesterday on the back of property firms and other blue chips, while banks dragged down Saudi Arabia after the kingdom’s central bank tightened consumer lending regulations.
The Cairo index rose 1.8%, its biggest gain in five weeks, after the country’s central bank on Monday kept interest rates unchanged, as expected by the market, and said there was upside risk to the inflation outlook.
At its previous meeting on July 17, the central bank had raised benchmark interest rates in a surprise move seen as an attempt to hold down inflation after the government introduced fuel price increases.
Saudi Arabia’s main stock index pulled back 0.6% after hitting a fresh six-year high in the previous session.
The petrochemical sector edged down 0.4%. In late trade, security sources said a fire had erupted briefly on a pipeline in the country’s Eastern Province after unidentified assailants shot at a security patrol - the first confirmed attack on physical energy infrastructure in the world’s largest oil exporter since 2006.
Dubai’s bourse also pulled back after strong gains, slipping 0.5%. Shares in Emaar Properties, the emirate’s largest listed developer, dropped 3.0%.
Dubai Islamic Bank, on the other hand, added 0.5% after the lender ruled out seeking a controlling stake in Indonesia’s Bank Panin Syariah.
Oman’s index rose 0.6% to a six-year high of 7,400 points.
Elsewhere, Abu Dhabi’s index was flat at 5,129 points; Kuwait’s measure added 0.3% to 7,445 points, while Bahrain’s index slipped 0.1% to 1,473 points.
