Defying institutional buying support, the Qatar Stock Exchange on Thursday closed in the negative for the third straight session.
The insurance counter witnessed buying interests amidst a 0.26% decline in the 20-stock Qatar Index to still remain at five-year low of 8,132.05 points.
Islamic equities were, however, seen gaining in the bourse, whose year-to-date losses were at 22.08%.
Local and non-Qatari individual investors turned net profit-takers in the market, whose capitalisation fell 0.3% to QR443.72bn.
Opening strong, the market immediately changed course to witness consistent weakening for the next 60 minutes, which took the index to a low of 8,120 points, after which there was largely buying sentiment for the next 120 minutes, which drove the market to a high of more than 8,160 points. However, some last minute strong profit-booking led the index to settle 21 points lower overall.
Trade turnover and volumes were on the decline in the bourse, where the banking, real estate and telecom sectors together accounted for more than 80% of the total volume.
The Total Return Index fell 0.26% to 13,636.96 points and the All Share Index by 0.33% to 2,294.11 points; whereas the Al Rayan Islamic Index rose 0.16% to 3,295.96 points.
The insurance index gained 0.3%, while realty shrank 1.62%, followed by consumer goods (0.25%), banks and financial services (0.2%), industrials and telecom (0.07% each), and transport (0.02%).
Major gainers included Qatar Islamic Bank, Doha Bank, QIIB, Qatar First Bank, Qatari Investors Group, Aamal Company, Qatar Insurance and Gulf Warehousing; even as Masraf Al Rayan, al khaliji, Qatari German Company for Medical Devices, QNB, Industries Qatar, Gulf International Services, Al Khaleej Takaful, Ezdan, Barwa, Nakilat and Vodafone Qatar were among the losers.
Domestic institutions’ net buying strengthened considerably to QR23.05mn compared to QR8.64mn the previous day.
GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) funds turned net buyers to the tune of QR1.81mn against net sellers of QR0.58mn on Wednesday.
Non-Qatari institutions were were also net buyers to the extent of QR1.09mn compared with net sellers of QR14.3mn on October 4.
However, local retail investors turned net sellers to the tune of QR20.8mn against net buyers of QR5.82mn the previous day.
Non-Qatari individual investors were also net sellers to the extent of QR4.3mn compared with net buyers of QR0.43mn on Wednesday.
GCC retail investors’ net profit-booking increased perceptibly to QR0.84mn against QR0.05mn on October 4.
Total trade volume fell 24% to 6.64mn shares and value by 16% to QR151.97mn, while deals were up 10% to 2,303.
There was a 76% plunge in the consumer goods sector’s trade volume to 0.11mn equities and 21% in value to QR5.13mn but on a 53% increase in transactions to 139.
The industrials sector’s trade volume plummeted 69% to 0.63mn stocks, value by 44% to QR15.44mn and deals by 8% to 452.
The banks and financial services sector saw a 32% shrinkage in trade volume to 1.96mn shares and 17% in value to QR82.72mn but on a 45% expansion in transactions to 967.
The transport sector’s trade volume tanked 32% to 0.52mn equities, value by 31% to QR10.87mn and deals by 40% to 217.
The real estate sector reported a 3% fall in trade volume to 1.82mn stocks, 12% in value to QR19.36mn and 10% in transactions to 284.
However, the telecom sector’s trade volume more than doubled to 1.55mn shares and value also more than doubled to QR16.01mn on a 42% surge in deals to 150.
The market witnessed a 20% rise in the insurance sector’s trade volume to 0.06mn equities but value was down 3% to QR2.43mn despite transactions rising 31% to 94.
In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and government bonds.
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