QE extends losses to 3rd day on selling pressure

By Santhosh V PerumalBusiness Reporter

Led down by QNB, Nakilat, Barwa and Industries Qatar, the QE’s 20-stock benchmark yesterday lost 0.96% or 84 points to a two-week low of 8,645.17 points

The Qatar Exchange fell 0.96% yesterday, extending losses to the third day, mainly on hurried selling by local retail investors.Led down by QNB, Nakilat, Barwa and Industries Qatar, the 20-stock benchmark lost 84 points to a two-week low of 8,645.17 points. The market is down 0.42% year-to-date.Maximum selling was seen in services, whose index plunged 1.89%, followed by insurance (1.61%), banks and financial institutions (0.57%) and industry (0.34%).Market capitalisation shrank 1.03% or about QR5bn to QR441.03bn with mid, small and large cap equities losing 1.58%, 1.28% and 0.85% respectively; even as micro caps rose 0.25%.Of the 42 stocks, only 11gained, while 23 declined and four were unchanged. Four others were not traded.Qatari individual investors were increasingly profit-takers as their net selling surged to 12.63% from 9.52% in the previous day.A higher 38.20% of them purchased equities compared to 33.88% on Sunday but a higher 50.83% sold against 43.40%.Non-Qatari retail investors however turned bullish as they were net buyers to the tune of 4.13% compared with net sellers of 0.18% in the previous day.A higher 18.34% of them were into buying against 13.36% on Sunday although a marginally higher 14.21% were into offloading compared to 13.54%.Foreign institutions continued to be bullish but with lesser intensity as their net buying sunk to 0.98% from 4.93% in the previous day.A lower 21.01% of them were into buying compared to 27.86% on Sunday and a lower 20.03% were into selling against 22.93%.Domestic institutions’ bullish grip strengthened as their net buying rose to 7.51% from 4.76% in the previous day.A lower 22.45% of them bought equities against 24.89% on Sunday and a much lower 14.94% of them sold compared to 20.13%.Total trading volume rose 21% to 7.87mn equities, value by 1% to QR257.44mn and deals by less than 1% to 4,492.The services sector’s trading volume surged 69% to 5.34mn shares, value by 39% to QR136.25mn and transactions by 20% to 2,503.The insurance sector’s trading volume shot up 50% to 0.09mn shares, value by 75% to QR4.79mn deals more than doubled to 118.The industrial sector witnessed a 2% jump in trading volume to 0.52mn shares whereas value fell 3% to QR35.08mn. Transactions gained 3% to 508.However, banks and financial institutions’ trading volume shrank 30% to 1.92mn equities, value by 31% to QR81.32mn and deals by 26% to 1,363.Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Nakilat (2.91mn shares); Masraf Al Rayan (791,981); Barwa (632,489); Gulf International Services (613,598) and Mawashi (416,021).