Foreign funds’ buying lifts QSE 80 points; M-cap adds QR5.16bn
Easing geopolitical tensions in the region had its positive spillover Monday in the Gulf bourses, including the Qatar Stock Exchange, which gained as much as 80 points and capitalisation added in excess of QR5bn.An across the board buying lifted the 20-stock Qatar Index by 0.72% to 11,204.69 points, recovering from an intraday low of 11,122 points.The transport, industrials and banking sectors witnessed higher than average demand in the main market, whose year-to-date gains improved further to 4.11%.About 70% of the traded constituents extended gains to investors in the main bourse, whose capitalisation added QR5.16bn or 0.77% to QR671.4bn mainly on small and midcap segments.The foreign institutions were seen increasingly bullish in the main bourse, whose trade turnover fell amidst higher volumes.The Islamic index was seen underperforming the other indices of the main market, which saw as many as 1,426 exchange traded funds (sponsored by AlRayan Bank and Doha Bank) valued at QR0.01mn trade across seven deals.The Gulf institutions were increasingly net buyers in the main bourse, which saw no trading of sovereign bonds.However, the domestic funds were increasingly net profit takers in the main market, which saw no trading of treasury bills.The Total Return Index gained 0.72%, the All Share Index by 0.72% and the All Islamic Index by 0.42% in the main bourse.The transport sector index shot up 1.31%, industrials (0.89%), banks and financial services (0.74%), consumer goods and services (0.43%), real estate (0.42%), insurance (0.23%) and telecom (0.11%).As many as 37 gained, while 14 declined and two were unchanged.Major movers in the main market included Mosanada Facilities Management, Doha Bank, Mazaya Qatar, QLM, Alijarah Holding, QNB, Commercial Bank, Salam International Investment, Al Mahhar Holding, Industries Qatar, Ezdan, Qatari Investors Group, Nakilat and Milaha.Nevertheless, Beema, Widam Food, Mannai Corporation, Qatar Islamic Bank and Qatar German Medical Devices were among the shakers in the main bourse.In the venture market, Techno Q saw its shares depreciate in value.The foreign institutions’ net buying increased substantially to QR43.17mn compared to QR3.48mn the previous day.The Gulf institutions’ net buying strengthened significantly to QR19.55mn against QR9.93mn on January 18.However, the domestic funds’ net selling expanded drastically to QR34.72mn compared to QR5.89mn on Sunday.The local individual investors’ net selling grew perceptibly to QR17.79mn against QR16.9mn the previous day.The Arab retail investors turned net sellers to the tune of QR5.16mn compared with net buyers of QR8.66mn on January 18.The foreign individuals were net sellers to the extent of QR4.06mn against net buyers of QR0.86mn on Sunday.The Gulf individual investors’ net profit booking jumped marginally to QR0.98mn compared to QR0.11mn the previous day.The Arab institutions had no major net exposure for the third straight session.The main market saw a 10% jump in trade volumes to 128.3mn shares but on 6% fall in value to QR331.79mn and 28% in deals to 21,698.In the venture market, a total of 0.01mn equities valued at QR0.03mn changed hands across eight transactions.