By Santhosh V Perumal
Telecom, banking and consumer goods stocks yesterday strengthened the Qatar Stock Exchange on the third consecutive day of gains.
Local retail investors were seen net buyers as the 20-stock Qatar Index (based on price data) rose 0.2% to 14,137.33 points amid lower volumes.
The index that tracks Shariah-principled stocks was seen gaining slower than the other indices in the market, which is up 36.2% year-to-date.
The Total Return Index gained 0.2% to 21,085.7 points, the All Share Index by 0.32% to 3,571.77 points and the Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.01% to 4,787.68 points.
Foreign institutions continued to be net buyers, but with lesser intensity, on the bourse, where trading was largely skewed towards banking and realty stocks.
Market capitalisation rose 0.4%, or about QR3bn, to QR751.42bn. Large and micro-cap equities gained 0.64% and 0.41% respectively, whereas small caps lost 0.31%.
Telecom stocks gained 0.72%, followed by banks and financial services (0.61%), consumer goods (0.59%) and real estate (0.03%); while insurance fell 0.47%, industrials (0.04%) and transport (0.01%).
Major gainers included QNB, Ooredoo, al khaliji, Mazaya Qatar, Nakilat, United Development Company, Doha Insurance, Islamic Holding Group and Salam International Investment.
However, Gulf International Services, Masraf Al Rayan, Vodafone Qatar, Barwa and Ezdan bucked the trend.
Ezdan dominated the trading ring in terms of both volume and value.
Qatari retail investors turned net buyers to the tune of QR2.29mn against net sellers of QR5.64mn on Sunday.
Foreign institutions’ net buying fell to QR9.87mn compared to QR18.76mn the previous trading day.
Non-Qatari individual investors turned net buyers to the extent of QR2.29mn against net profit-takers of QR11.34mn on Sunday.
However, domestic institutions’ net selling surged to QR14.44mn compared to QR1.88mn the previous day.
Total trading volume fell 10% to 10.9mn shares; value by 12% to QR486.35mn and transactions by 1% to 6,048.
The telecom sector’s trading volume plummeted 54% to 0.59mn equities, value by 49% to QR19.52mn and deals by 8% to 316.
The real-estate sector saw its trading volume plunge 28% to 2.74mn stocks, value by 17% to QR68.92mn and transactions by 21% to 804.
The market witnessed a 16% decline in the consumer goods sector’s trading volume to 1.61mn shares, 41% in value to QR60.54mn and 13% in deals to 725.
The transport sector witnessed a 16% shrinkage in trading volume to 0.32mn equities, 11% in value to QR12.5mn and 10% in transactions to 177.
The industrials sector’s trading volume was down 1% to 1.37mn stocks, value by 15% to QR90.73mn and deals by 12% to 1,437.
However, the insurance sector’s trading volume soared 75% to 0.21mn shares, value by 56% to QR10.77mn and transactions by 37% to 166.
The banks and financial services sector reported a 25% surge in trade volume to 4.05mn equities, 10% in value to QR222.36mn and 25% in deals to 2,423.
In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and government bonds.
Dubai shares rise on Arabtec; Saudi market dips further
Builder Arabtec helped lift Dubai’s bourse yesterday as investors speculated that Abu Dhabi state fund Aabar Investments might increase its stake in the firm and pay a premium to the market price.
The Dubai index rose 0.5% as Arabtec jumped 3.7% to 4.77 dirhams and dominated trading volumes. News channel Al Arabiya reported yesterday that former Arabtec chief executive Ismaik had agreed to sell half of his 27.90% stake in the firm to Aabar at a price of between 5 and 5.50 dirhams per share; it quoted unnamed sources.
After trading closed, a source close to Ismaik told Reuters that he had agreed in principle to sell at least part of his stake. The source declined to elaborate on the deal’s size or price and Arabtec, from which Ismaik resigned abruptly in June, declined to comment on the matter.
A large enough deal would make Aabar, which already owns 18.94% of Arabtec, the company’s biggest shareholder and reassure the market of its commitment to the firm.
Arabtec shares plunged 70% between mid-May and early July as the deep-pocketed Aabar slightly reduced its stake in the company and investors feared that Ismaik might dump his shares on the market after resigning.
Abu Dhabi’s bourse was nearly flat but investment firm Waha Capital surged 6.5% after announcing that its board would discuss a share buyback programme tomorrow.
Egypt’s benchmark added 0.2%, ending a five-day profit-taking bout. Shares in Telecom Egypt rose 1.3% to 14.49 pounds after Barclays raised its target price for the stock to 15pounds from 14.80 pounds.
Saudi Arabia’s bourse fell 0.9%, its biggest daily decline in 12 weeks, as the uptrend ignited by the news that the kingdom would open its market to foreign investors appeared to be running out of steam.
The benchmark had risen as much as 14% following the July 22 announcement by Saudi Arabia’s stock market regulator that qualified foreign investors would be allowed to buy local stocks directly early next year. The key petrochemical and banking sectors pulled back 0.8 and 1.5% respectively yesterday.
Elsewhere, Kuwait’s index added 0.6% to 7,544 points; Oman’s measure slipped 0.6% to 7,471 points, while Bahrain’s index fell 0.1% to 1,466 points.
