DOHA: Profit booking at the lower levels continued to dog the Doha Securities Market (DSM) as it gained another paltry 8 points to close at 7,196.10 yesterday despite some selling pressure in banks and financial institutions stocks.

Amidst falling volumes and rising values, the 20-stock benchmark Qatar Share Index expanded by a mere 0.10% over the previous close of 7,907.88 points.

With insurance, industrial and services stocks witnessing some buying activities, the market breadth moved towards advances, thus marginally improving the (notional) wealth.

Qatar Cinema and Film Distribution Company touched the 10% ceiling, while First Finance (FFC) came close to it. Salam International Investment expanded by over 7% and Qatar Real Estate Investment (QREIC) rose by over 6%.

Trade volumes and the number of transactions declined by 4% and 6% respectively, while values surged by 11%.

Of the listed 35 stocks, 18 rose, while 15 declined and two remained unchanged. Four of the eight banks and financial institutions, two of the five insurers and nine of the 16 services shares lost value, while none of the six industries fell.

The insurance sector expanded the maximum by 0.70%, followed by industry (0.29%) and services (0.22%). The index of banks and financial institutions shrunk by 0.07%.

Opening weak below 7,900 points against the previous close of 7,907.88, the index was on downward trail for the first 15 minutes to touch a low of 7,847.58 points. The QSI made some feeble gains for the next 30 minutes after which the path was upward, but with a lower slope, to gain an overall 8 points.

Market capitalisation improved a tad to QR250.19bn compared with the previous day’s QR249.73bn. About 12.37mn stocks valued at QR399.44mn changed hands across 10,831 deals.

Major gainers (in terms of absolute changes) included FFC (+QR4.8 to QR53.7), Qatar Cinema and Film Distribution Company (+QR4.5 to QR49.5), Qatar Telecom (+QR4.1 to QR238), QNB (+QR3.9 to QR260.1), Qatar Navigation (+QR3.3 to QR149.4) and QREIC (+QR2.8 to QR45).

Active stocks included Rayyan (2.79mn shares traded), Salam International Investment (2.74mn), Barwa (1.85mn), National Leasing Company (1.31mn), QREIC (685,955), Qatar Meat and Livestock Company (653,636), Nakliat (577,535), Qatar Islamic Bank (222,250), Medicare Group (209,454) and Industries Qatar (207,931).