Qatar shares cross 8,700 mark on buying support

By Santhosh V PerumalBusiness Reporter

Although foreign institutions largely preferred to hold on to their portfolio, the QE’s 20-stock benchmark gained 0.87% or 76 points to 8,744.48 yesterday

Buying support from local institutions and foreign retail investors yesterday helped the Qatar Exchange’s key benchmark cross the 8,700 mark and wipe off the inherited losses.Although foreign institutions largely preferred to hold on to their portfolio, the 20-stock benchmark gained 0.87% or 76 points to 8,744.48 points, mainly led by Industries Qatar and QNB. The market is up 0.72% year-to-date, after several weeks of declines.Other influential gainers included Qatar Islamic Bank, Al Khalij Holding, Nakilat and Qatar Electricity and Water.Industrial stocks gained 1.44%, followed by services (0.93%), banks and financial institutions (0.71%) and insurance (0.24%).Market capitalisation rose 1.01% or more than QR4bn to QR440.15bn mainly due to small, mid and large cap equities, which gained 1.54%, 1.20% and 0.79% respectively.Of the 42 stocks, 31 gained, while only nine declined and one was unchanged. Another one was not traded.Domestic institutions continued to be profit-takers but with lesser intensity mainly on higher buying as their net selling sunk to 2.86% from 12.89% in the previous trading day.A higher 23.09% of them bought equities against 19.10% last Thursday; while a lower 25.95% of them sold compared to 31.99%.Foreign institutions’ bullish grip weakened considerably as their net buying plunged to 7.40% from 21.65% in the previous day.A much lower 20.37% of them were into buying compared to 33.17% last Thursday; while a marginally higher 12.97% were into selling against 11.52%.Qatari individual investors’ bearish grip strengthened as their net selling rose to 7.40% from 4.52% in the previous day.A higher 39.13% of them purchased equities compared to 35.95% last Thursday and a higher 46.53% sold against 40.47%.Non-Qatari retail investors turned bullish as they were net buyers to the tune of 2.86% compared with net sellers of 4.24% in the previous day.A higher 17.40% of them were into buying against 11.78% last Thursday; while a lower 14.54% were into offloading compared to 16.02%.Total trading volume shrank 29% to 13.53mn equities, value by 36% to QR471.30mn and deals by 24% to 7,544.Banks and financial institutions’ trading volume plummeted 48% to 3.76mn equities, value by 45% to QR185.27mn and transactions by 42% to 2,311.The services sector’s trading volume plunged 19% to 7.69mn shares, value by 25% to QR205.71mn and deals by 10% to 4,060.The industrial sector witnessed an 8% drop in trading volume to 1.94mn shares, value by 41% to QR73.87mn and transactions by 19% to 1,027.However, the insurance sector’s trading volume gained 18% to 0.13mn shares, value by 1% to QR6.46mn and deals by 7% to 146.Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Nakilat (3.18mn shares); Masraf Al Rayan (1.72mn); Al Khalij Holding (1.18mn); Barwa (1.09mn) and Mazaya Real Estate (619,407).