The Qatar Stock Exchange witnessed strong buying interests from domestic funds and local retail investors; yet it fell 122 points to settle below 9,400 levels.
Dragged by telecom, industrials and consumer goods, the 20-stock Qatar Index declined 1.29% to 9,328.24 points.
Foreign funds turned bearish and there was increased net selling by their Gulf counterparts in the bourse, which is however up 9.44%.
Selling was seen strong within large, micro and small cap segments in the market, whose capitalisation eroded 1.27% to QR509.4bn.
Islamic stocks were seen declining slower than the other indices in the market, where losers accounted for about 71% of the total traded scrips.
Trade turnover and volumes were however on the increase in the bourse, where the banking, industrials and real estate sectors together accounted for more than 82% of the total volume.
The Total Return Index shed 1.29% to 15,642.9 points, the All Share Index by 1.17% to 2,631.64 points and the Al Rayan Islamic Index fell 1.01% to 3,690.21 points.
The telecom index tanked 2.59%, followed by industrials (1.86%), consumer goods (1.71%), banks and financial services (1.18%), insurance (0.58%) and realty (0.21%); while transport gained 0.23%.
Major losers included Ooredoo, QNB, Qatar Islamic Bank, Doha Bank, Masraf Al Rayan, Al Khaliji, Industries Qatar, Gulf International Services, Ezdan, Gulf Warehousing and Salam International Investment; whereas Commercial Bank, Milaha, United Development Company and Doha Insurance were among the gainers.
Gulf institutions’ net selling increased substantially to QR19.45mn compared to QR2.52mn the previous day.
Non-Qatari institutions turned net sellers to the tune of QR4.64mn against net buyers of QR15.54mn on January 29.
Gulf individual investors were also net sellers to the extent of QR0.9mn compared with net buyers of QR0.09mn on Monday.
However, domestic funds turned net buyers to the tune of QR24.05mn against net sellers of QR1.6mn the previous day.
Local individuals turned were also net buyers to the extent of QR1.2mn compared with net sellers of QR8.52mn on January 29.
Non-Qatari retail investors’ net profit-booking weakened marginally to QR0.25mn against QR3mn on Monday.
Total trade volume rose 39% to 8.76mn shares, value by 35% to QR229.95mn and deals by 11% to 3,696.
The consumer goods sector’s trade volume more than doubled to 0.42 equities, value soared 45% to QR23.17mn and transactions by 7% to 262.
The banks and financial services sector saw a 73% surge in trade volume to 3.07mn shares, 56% in value to QR100.43mn and 20% in deals to 1,250.
The industrials sector’s trade volume increased 73% to 2.07mn equities, value by 18% to QR38.48mn and transactions by 20% to 819.
There was a 10% expansion in the real estate sector’s trade volume to 2.07mn stocks, 34% in value to QR44.28mn and 1% in deals to 714.
The telecom sector’s trade volume was up 1% to 0.79mn shares, value by 11% to QR13.53mn and transactions by 24% to 371.
However, the transport sector reported a 29% plunge in trade volume to 0.3mn shares, 15% in value to QR7.81mn and 9% in deals to 219.
Although the insurance sector’s trade volume was flat at 0.06mn equities, there was 30% shrinkage in value to QR2.25mn and 38% in transactions to 61.
In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and sovereign bonds.
