By Santhosh V Perumal/Business Reporter
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The Qatar Exchange index lost 0.39% yesterday mainly due to foreign institutional selling pressure |
The 20-stock benchmark settled 35 points lower at 8,780.80 points with micro and mid cap equities bearing the maximum brunt. The market is however up 1.14% year-to-date.
Qatar Islamic Bank, Commercialbank, Doha Bank, Masraf Al Rayan, Gulf Warehousing and Mawashi were among the prime shakers.
The indices of lenders and services fell 0.81% and 0.12%; while those of insurance and industry gained 1.36% and 0.14% respectively.
Market capitalisation however was up 0.07% or QR33mn to QR446.75bn with small and large cap equities gaining a paltry 0.09% and 0.06%; even as micro and mid caps plunged 1.21% and 0.55% respectively.
Of the 42 stocks, only 10 gained, while 29 declined, two were unchanged and one was not traded.
Foreign institutions were increasingly profit takers as their net selling swelled to 15.03% from 1.85% in the previous day.
A much lower 18.63% of them were into buying compared to 28.09% on Wednesday; while a higher 33.66% were into selling against 29.94%.
Domestic institutions, on the other hand, turned bullish that they were net buyers to the tune of 12.82% compared with net sellers of 0.45% in the previous day.
A higher 27.71% of them bought equities against 23.72% on Wednesday; while a much lower 14.89% of them sold compared to 24.17%.
Qatari individual investors’ bullish grip strengthened as their net buying rose to 2.75% from 1.68% in the previous day.
A higher 41.03% of them purchased equities compared to 35.14% on Wednesday and a higher 38.28% sold against 33.46%.
Non-Qatari retail investors turned profit takers that they were net sellers to the extent of 0.53% compared with net buyers of 0.63% in the previous day.
A marginally lower 12.63% of them were into buying against 13.06% on Wednesday; while a marginally higher 13.16% were into offloading compared to 12.43%.
Total trading volume fell 3% to 12.28mn equities, value by 16% to QR487.88mn and deals by 9% to 7,086.
The industrial sector witnessed a 59% plunge in trading volume to 0.68mn shares, value by 55% to QR60.74mn and transactions by 54% to 663.
The insurance sector’s trading volume plummeted 43% to 0.08mn shares, value by 41% to QR4.83mn and deals by 35% to 91.
Banks and financial institutions’ trading volume shrank 20% to 3.24mn equities, value by 14% to QR181.99mn and transactions by 10% to 2,478.
However, the services sector’s trading volume rose 22% to 8.27mn shares, value by 8% to QR240.32mn and deals by 12% to 3,854.
Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Nakilat (3.12mn shares); Mawashi (2.17mn); Masraf Al Rayan (975,042); Doha Bank (646,781) and Gulf International Services (637,185).
Reuters adds: Egypt’s benchmark share index closed flat reversing earlier gains with a fall in developer Egyptian Resorts countered by a rise in Orascom Telecom (OT).
Real estate firm Egyptian Resorts was the index’s worst decliner tumbling 9.6% following news that a land sale to the firm has been scrapped prompting foreigners to dump shares in the stock.
“This news is extremely negative, which will lead to flight of foreign investment outside of Egypt and will in turn negatively impact the stock market,” said Hashem Ghoneim, vice chairman of Pyramids Capital.
OT closed up 1.1% on optimism that shareholders will approve a plan to split the company in two in a way that increases share values.
The UAE markets rose with Dubai’s index ending on an 11-week high as investors buy into the country’s political safe haven status and bullish first-quarter results. The Dubai benchmark gained 1.4% to 1,623 points, its highest close since January 26.
The Abu Dhabi’s measure ended 0.7% up to 2,679 points, hitting its highest close since February 2.
The Omani index hits a three-week high as Bank Muscat rallied after posting first-quarter earnings yesterday that fell largely in line with expectations.