Sustained buying interests from foreign funds on Thursday lifted the Qatar Stock Exchange for the fourth straight session and its key barometer gained 142 points and capitalisation expanded more than QR12bn.
Gulf institutions’ bullish outlook also played its part in lifting the 20-stock Qatar Index by 1.56% to 9,196.62 points.
Doha Bank and Masraf Al Rayan sponsored exchange traded funds QETF and QATR witnessed 1.93% and 0.51% gains respectively.
The realty and banking counters witnessed robust demand in the market, which is up 7.9% year-to-date.
Large-cap segments saw more buying interests in the bourse, whose capitalisation rose 2.4% to QR513.97bn.
Trade turnover grew amidst lower volumes in the market, where the telecom, banking, industrials and real estate sectors together accounted for about 93% of the total volume.
The Total Return Index gained 1.56% to 16,203.41 points, the All Share Index by 2.34% to 2,739.61 points and the Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) by 0.89% to 2,294 points.
The realty index soared 5.26%, followed by banks and financial services (3.01%), industrials (0.97%), telecom (0.64%), transport (0.35%), insurance (0.31%) and consumer goods (0.18%).
More than 70% of the stocks extended gains with major movers being Ezdan, QNB, Commercial Bank, Qatar Islamic Bank, Aamal Company, Industries Qatar, Barwa and Gulf Warehousing; even as Alijarah Holding, Qatar First Bank, Islamic Holding Group and United Development Company were among the losers.
Non-Qatari institutions’ net buying strengthened considerably to QR87.44mn compared to QR60.45mn on April 19.
Gulf institutions turned net buyers to the tune of QR14.32mn against net sellers of QR8.14mn the previous day.
Non-Qatari individuals’ net profit-booking weakened perceptibly to QR7.32mn compared to QR11.16mn on Wednesday.
However, local individuals’ net selling increased significantly to QR51.22mn against QR7.99mn on April 19.
Domestic institutions’ net selling grew influentially to QR40.2mn compared to QR31.97mn the previous day.
Gulf individuals’ net profit-booking gained marginally to QR2.99mn against QR1.22mn on Wednesday.
Total trade volume fell 15% to 16.04mn shares, while value rose 24% to QR446.13mn and transactions by 13% to 5,711.
There was a 44% plunge in the insurance sector’s trade volume to 0.15mn equities, 48% in value to QR4.85mn and 50% in deals to 124.
The transport sector’s trade volume plummeted 33% to 0.58mn stocks and value by 27% to QR11.43mn, whereas transactions were up 5% to 334.
The market witnessed a 32% shrinkage in the industrials sector’s trade volume to 3.2mn shares but on an 11% increase in value to QR102.58mn and 38% in deals to 1,361.
The telecom sector’s trade volume tanked 31% to 5.7mn equities, value by 30% to QR59.34mn and transactions by 33% to 632.
However, the real estate sector reported a 58% surge in trade volume to 2.36mn stocks, 50% in value to QR33.3mn and 47% in deals to 912.
The consumer goods sector’s trade volume soared 35% to 0.42mn shares, while value shrank 28% to QR18.99mn and transactions by 18% to 276.
The banks and financial services sector saw an 18% expansion in trade volume to 3.62mn equities, 97% in value to QR215.64mn and 30% in deals to 2,072.
In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and sovereign bonds.
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