Qatar shares close marginally up despite selling pressure

The Qatar Stock Exchange on Thursday settled marginally higher despite five of the seven sectors having faced selling pressure.
The substantially weakened net selling from local retail investors and domestic funds helped the 20-stock Qatar Index close 0.06% higher at 8,893.27 points.
Non-Qatari individuals were increasingly net buyers in the bourse, which is up 4.34% year-to-date.
The demand was mainly for small cap stocks in the market, whose capitalisation was down 0.22% to QR477.77bn.
About 59% of the stocks extended gains in the bourse, where Gulf institutions turned net profit-takers and there was weakened net buying by foreign funds.
Islamic stocks were seen gaining faster than the main barometer in the market, which also saw higher net selling by Gulf individuals.
Trade turnover and volumes were on the decline in the bourse, where the banking, real estate and industrials sectors together accounted for more than 86% of the total volume.
The Total Return Index was up 0.06% to 14,913.49 points and the Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.16% to 3,561.06 points, while the All Share Index fell 0.41% to 2,467.54 points.
The consumer goods index gained 0.54% and transport 0.08%; whereas insurance tanked 2.49%, realty (1.17%), industrials (0.43%), telecom (0.31%) and banks and financial services (0.06%).
Major gainers included Milaha, Ahli Bank, Islamic Holding Group, Salam International Investment, Woqod, United Development Company and Barwa; while Qatar Islamic Bank, Qatar First Bank, Gulf International Services, Qatar insurance, Ezdan, Gulf Warehousing and Nakilat were among the losers.
Domestic institutions’ net selling weakened considerably to QR2.27mn compared to QR43.7mn on February 7.
Local individuals’ net profit-booking declined substantially to QR5.49mn against QR31.99mn the previous day.
Non-Qatari retail investors’ net buying grew marginally to QR3.03mn compared to QR2.62mn on Wednesday.
However, non-Qatari institutions’ net buying fell influentially to QR5.38mn against QR69.2mn on February 7.
Gulf institutions turned net sellers to the tune of QR0.35mn compared with net buyers of QR3.87mn the previous day.
Gulf individual investors’ net profitbooking grew perceptibly to QR0.32mn against QR0.03mn on Wednesday.
Total trade volume fell 21% to 10.29mn shares, value by 32% to QR216.21mn and transactions by 31% to 3,725.
The consumer goods sector reported a 61% plunge in trade volume to 0.37mn equities but on a 3% rise in value to QR22.24mn despite 17% lower deals to 346.
The telecom sector’s trade volume plummeted 46% to 0.83mn stocks, value by 65% to QR11.39mn and transactions by 50% to 280.
There was a 44% shrinkage in the transport sector’s trade volume to 0.18mn shares, 43% in value to QR5.69mn and 38% in deals to 159.
The insurance sector’s trade volume tanked 33% to 0.04mn equities, value by 54% to QR1.36mn and transactions by 38% to 53.
The real estate sector saw a 28% decline in trade volume to 2.31mn stocks, 30% in value to QR43.39n and 34% in deals to 861.
The industrials sector’s trade volume shrank 26% to 1.89mn shares, value by 41% to QR35.55mn and transactions by 35% to 772.
However, the market witnessed a 4% jump in the banks and financial services sector’s trade volume to 4.66mn equities but on a 26% slump in value to QR96.66mn and 21% in deals to 1,254.
In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and sovereign bonds.