The Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) on Monday rather treaded a flat course despite strong buying interests in the transport, industrials and telecom sectors..text-box { float:left; width:250px; padding:1px; border:1pt white; margin-top: 10px; margin-right: 15px; margin-bottom: 5px; margin-left: 20px;}@media only screen and (max-width: 767px) {.text-box {width: 30%;}}**media[130236]**The foreign individuals were seen increasingly net buyers as the 20-stock Qatar Index settled at 10,259.95 points although it touched an intraday high of 10,203 points.The local retail investors were increasingly bullish in the main market, whose year-to-date losses were at 5.27%.The Gulf institutions’ weakened net selling had its influence in the main bourse, whose capitalisation was up QR0.9bn or 0.15% to QR590.64bn with small cap segments leading the pack of gainers.The Arab individuals’ lower net profit booking had its say in the main market, which saw as many as 0.01mn exchange traded funds (sponsored by Masraf Al Rayan and Doha Bank) valued at QR0.13mn trade across 15 deals.The foreign funds continued to be net buyers but with lesser intensity in the main bourse, which saw no trading of sovereign bonds.The Islamic index was seen declining vis-à-vis gains in the other indices in the main market, which reported no trading of treasury bills.The Total Return Index was up 0.09% and the All Share Index by 0.06%, while the All Islamic Index eased 0.09% in the main bourse, whose trade turnover and volumes were on the increase.The transport sector index gained 1.23%, industrials (0.63%), telecom (0.56%), consumer goods and services (0.2%) and real estate (0.2%); while insurance declined 1.45% and banks and financial services 0.33%.Major gainers in the main market included Zad Holding, Meeza, Ahlibank Qatar, Nakilat, Gulf Warehousing, Industries Qatar, Aamal Company, Mazaya Qatar and Ooredoo.Nevertheless, Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance, Doha Bank, Masraf Al Rayan, Dukhan Bank, Al Khaleej Takaful, Qamco, Qatar Insurance and Vodafone Qatar were3 among the losers in the main bourse. In the venture market, Al Mahhar Holding saw its shares depreciate in value.The local individual investors’ net buying increased perceptibly to QR4.67mn compared to of QR4.37mn on March 17.The foreign retail investors’ net buying strengthened noticeably to QR2.97mn against QR0.4mn the previous day.The Gulf institutions’ net profit booking declined markedly to QR5.87mn compared to QR9.42mn on Sunday.The Arab individual investors’ net selling shrank marginally to QR3.77mn against QR4.21mn on March 17.However, the domestic funds’ net profit booking soared notably to QR12.33mn compared to QR10.62mn the previous day.The foreign institutions’ net buying decreased drastically to QR13.96mn against QR18mn on Sunday.The Gulf individuals’ net buying eased perceptibly to QR0.49mn compared to QR1.48mn on March 17.The Arab institutions had no major net exposure for the fifth consecutive session.Trade volumes in the main market increased 49% to 175.38mn shares, value by 49% to QR495.45mn and deals by 47% to 15,470.The venture market saw a 60% surge in trade volumes to 0.08mn equities, 50% in value to QR0.12mn and 8% in transactions to 13.
Santhosh V. Perumal
Santhosh V. Perumal, a postgraduate in Econometrics with an advance qualification in Capital Markets and Financial Services, is Gulf Times' journalist. His coverage areas are debt and equity, hydrocarbons, international trade, environment, banks, insurance and real estate. Previously, he was in New Delhi, India as Senior Finance Correspondent of PTI.
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