The Qatar Stock Exchange yesterday opened the week strong to inch near 8,400 levels, mainly lifted by banking, industrials, realty and transport counters.
Local retail investors turned bullish and there was increased buying support from Gulf institutions as the 20-stock Qatar Index rose 0.42% for the third straight session to 8,395.52 points.
Non-Qatari individuals’ strengthened buying and non-Qatari funds’ lower selling also helped the market, whose year-to-date losses were at 19.56%.
Islamic equities were seen outperforming the main index and other indices in the bourse, whose capitalisation expanded 0.5% to QR458.71bn.
However, domestic institutions turned profit-takers in the market, where more than 59% of the stocks extended gains.
Recovering from the initial losses, the market made a strong rebound to touch a peak of more than 8,450 points within the first 75 minutes, followed by sustained profit-booking. However, the index settled higher.
Trade turnover and volumes on the increase in the market, where industrials, real estate and banking sectors together accounted for about 76% of the total volume.
The Total Return Index rose 0.42% to 14,078.79 points, the Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.74% to 3,394.62 points and the All Share Index by 0.48% to 2,392.81 points.
The banks and financial services index soared 0.82%, followed by industrials (0.78%), realty (0.77%) and transport (0.71%); while insurance shrank 2.01%, consumer goods (0.72%) and telecom (0.09%).
Major gainers included Industries Qatar, Gulf International Services, Milaha, Qatari German Company for Medical Devices, Masraf Al Rayan, al khaliji, Alijarah Holding, Qatar Islamic Insurance and Vodafone Qatar; even as Commercial Bank, Qatar Insurance, Al Khaleej Takaful, Medicare Group, Mazaya Qatar and Gulf Warehousing were among the losers.
Local retail investors turned net buyers to the tune of QR13.37mn compared with net sellers of QR3.27mn last Thursday.
GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) funds’ net buying strengthened considerably to QR8.35mn against QR0.1mn on September 21.
Non-Qatari individual investors’ net buying increased to QR1.39mn compared to QR0.44mn the previous day.
Non-Qatari institutions’ net profit-booking weakened marginally to QR6.67mn against QR7.06mn last Thursday.
However, domestic institutions turned net sellers to the extent of QR16.09mn compared with net buyers of QR9.98mn on September 21.
GCC retail investors’ net profit-booking rose marginally to QR0.3mn against QR0.2mn the previous day.
Total trade volume rose 4% to 12.89mn shares, value by 76% to QR295.17mn and deals by 28% to 2,999.
The insurance sector’s trade volume more than quadrupled to 0.13mn equities and value more than doubled to QR4.87mn on a 70% higher transactions to 90.
The transport sector’s trade volume doubled to 1.06mn stocks and value almost tripled to QR39.26mn on a 2% rise in deals to 368.
There was a 23% increase in the banks and financial services sector’s trade volume to 2.95mn shares, more than doubling value to QR129.26mn on a 42% jump in transactions to 846.
The real estate sector’s trade volume soared 22% to 3.08mn equities, value by 38% to QR40.43mn and deals by 37% to 387.
The telecom sector’s trade volume was up 4% to 1.78mn stocks and value by 9% to QR21.07mn, whereas transactions shrank 13% to 228.
However, the consumer goods sector reported a 35% fall in trade volume to 0.17mn shares but on a 17% expansion in value to QR8.49mn and 3% in deals to 182.
The industrials sector’s trade volume plummeted 25% to 3.72mn equities, while value gained 4% to QR51.8mn and transactions by 43% to 878.
In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and government bonds.
Local retail investors turned bullish amid an increased buying support from Gulf institutions as the 20-stock Qatar Index yesterday rose 0.42% in the third straight session of gains to close at 8,395.52 points.
