Brightened hopes of negotiations to end the Iran war had its positive influence on the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE), which Tuesday snapped two days of bearish spell to gain more than 46 points, adding in excess of QR3bn in capitalisation.
The industrials, real estate and telecom counters witnessed higher than average demand as the 20-stock Qatar Index rose 0.45% to 10,418.28 points, although it touched an intraday high of 10,433 points.
Positive momentum was visible in the regional bourses after the US President Donald Trump said he had paused a planned attack on Iran to allow negotiations on a deal to end the war, easing investor concerns over a wider Middle East conflict. The QSE truncated its year-to-date losses to 3.2%.
About 78% of the traded constituents extended gains to investors in the main bourse, whose capitalisation added QR3.26bn or 0.53% to QR622.8bn, mainly owing to midcap segments. The local retail investors were seen increasingly net buyers in the main market, whose trade turnover and volumes were on the decline.
The foreign institutions’ weakened net profit booking had its influence on the main bourse, which saw as many as 9,339 exchange traded funds (sponsored by AlRayan Bank and Doha Bank) valued at QR0.05mn trade across 12 deals. The domestic funds continued to be net buyers but with lesser intensity in the main market, which saw as many as 10 sovereign bonds valued at QR0.1mn changes hands across one transaction.
The Islamic index was seen outperforming other indices of the main bourse, which saw a total of 5,000 sovereign sukuks valued at QR50.3mn trade across two deals.
The Total Return Index rose 0.45%, the All Share Index by 0.45% and the Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.55% in the main bourse, which saw no trading of treasury bills. The industrials sector index gained 0.67%, telecom (0.64%), realty (0.62%), consumer goods and services (0.45%), insurance (0.43%) and banks and financial services (0.4%); while transport was down 0.03%. As many as 42 gained, while only six decreased and six were unchanged in the main market.
Major movers in the main market included Al Khaleej Takaful, Baladna, Estithmar Holding, Widam Food, Doha Insurance, Ahlibank Qatar, Salam International Investment, Qatar German Medical Devices, Al Faleh Educational Holding, Gulf International Services, Qamco, Ezdan, Vodafone Qatar and Gulf Warehousing.