By Santhosh V Perumal
Business Reporter
QE capitalisation rose 3% or about QR13bn to QR428.52bn yesterday
Qatar’s bourse yesterday opened the week on a stronger note as the benchmark index gained 2.77% to inch near the 8,500 mark mainly on robust buying interest in the underlying stocks.
Easing political tensions across the Middle East prompted foreign institutions to bargain hunt for quality scrips as the Qatar Exchange’s 20-stock index rose by 228 points to 8,457.12 points. The bourse extended rally to the fifth day yesterday.
The market is, however, down 2.59% year-to-date.
Strong buying interest was seen in Industries Qatar, Barwa, Doha Bank, Commercialbank, QNB, Masraf Al Rayan, Woqod and Nakilat.
The industrial index gained the maximum of 4.17%, followed by banks and financial institutions (2.67%), services (2.51%) and insurance (0.63%).
Market capitalisation expanded 3% or about QR13bn to QR428.52bn mainly with large, mid and small cap equities gaining 3.21%, 2.27% and 1.28% respectively.
Of the 43 stocks, 31 gained, while only eight declined and four were not traded.
Foreign institutions continued to be bullish but with lesser vigour as their net buying fell to 5.14% from 8.16% in the previous day.
A higher 26.91% of them were into buying compared to 23.41% last Thursday although a higher 21.77% were into selling against 15.25%.
Domestic institutions turned profit-takers as they were net sellers to the tune of 2.87% compared with net buyers of 2.89% in the previous day.
A higher 20.27% of them bought equities against 18.95% last Thursday and a higher 23.14% of them sold compared to 16.06%.
Qatari individual investors continued to be profit-takers but with lesser intensity as their net selling sunk to 1.03% from 7.55% in the previous day.
A lower 42.53% of them purchased equities compared to 47.08% last Thursday and a much lower 43.56% sold against 54.63%.
Non-Qatari retail investors continued to be bearish but with lesser vigour as their net selling fell to 1.24% from 3.50% in the previous day.
A marginally lower 10.28% of them were into buying against 10.56% last Thursday and a lower 11.52% were into offloading compared to 14.06%.
Total trading volume sunk 26% to 20.14mn equities whereas value gained 11% to QR704.06mn. Deals fell 2% to 8,165.
The services sector’s trading volume plunged 44% to 11.62mn but value rose 7% to QR349.37mn. Transactions shrank 4% to 4,458.
However, the insurance sector’s trading volume surged 40% to 0.07mn shares, value by 50% to QR3.78mn and deals by 6% to 75.
Banks and financial institutions’ trading volume expanded 36% to 7.13mn equities and value by 19% to QR253.14mn. Transactions lost 3% to 2,562.
The industrial sector witnessed a 10% jump in trading volume to 1.33mn shares, value by 7% to QR97.77mn and deals by 6% to 1,070.
Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Rayan (5.21mn shares); Barwa (4.83mn); Salam International Investments (1.92mn); Nakilat (1.55mn) and Mawashi (1.07mn).