Awaiting cues from the US Federal Reserve on interest rate hike, the Qatar Stock Exchange Wednesday lost another 104 points in key index, which settled a tad above 11,000 points.
The domestic institutions were seen net profit takers as the 20-stock Qatar Index declined 0.93% to 11,080.21 points, although it touched an intraday high of 11,262 points.
The industrials and banking counters witnessed higher than average selling pressure in the main market, whose year-to-date losses widened to 4.69%.
More than 53% of the traded constituents were in the red in the main bourse, whose capitalisation saw QR4.47bn or 0.71% contraction to QR624.89bn, mainly on midcap segments.
The foreign individuals were seen net profit takers in the main bourse, which saw a total of 0.45mn exchange traded funds (sponsored by Masraf Al Rayan and Doha Bank) valued at QR1.23mn changed hands across 35 deals.
The Islamic index was seen declining slower than the other indices in the main market, which saw no trading of sovereign bonds and treasury bills.
Trade turnover and volumes were on the decline in both the main and venture markets.
The Total Return Index shed 0.93%, the All Share Index by 0.77% and the Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) by 0.58%.
The industrials sector index tanked 2.03%, followed by banks and financial services (0.98%), insurance (0.4%) and real estate (0.14%); while telecom gained 2.4%, transport (1.22%) and consumer goods and services (0.34%).
Major losers in the main market included Industries Qatar, Medicare group, Al Khaleej Takaful, Inma Holding, Qatar Islamic Bank, Commercial Bank, Mazaya Qatar and Ezdan.
Nevertheless, Ooredoo, Doha Insurance, Widam Food, Qatar National Cement, Nakilat, Doha Bank, Woqod and Qatar Electricity and Water were among the gainers in the main market.
In the venture market, Mekdam Holding saw its shares appreciate in value.
The domestic funds turned net sellers to the extent of QR14.78mn against net buyers of QR4.3mn on December 13.
The foreign individuals were net sellers to the extent of QR4.27mn against net buyers of QR4.23mn on Tuesday.
The Gulf retail investors turned net sellers to the tune of QR0.14mn compared with net buyers of QR1.11mn the previous day.
The local retail investors’ net buying decreased noticeably to QR23.82mn against QR26.49mn on December 13.
The Arab individual investors’ net buying declined markedly to QR5.56mn compared to QR10.56mn on Tuesday.
However, the foreign institutions’ net selling shrank significantly to QR5.02mn against QR29.69mn the previous day.
The Gulf institutions’ net profit booking weakened notably to QR5.17mn compared to QR17.01mn on December 13.
The Arab institutions had no major net exposure for the fourth straight session.
Total trade volume in the main market was down 7% to 101.47mn shares and value by 1% to QR442.93mn, while deals grew 25% to 21,365.
The venture market saw an 83% plunge in trade volumes to 0.03mn equities, 83% in value to QR0.23mn and 83% in transactions to 17.
