Qatar shares edge down despite local buy interest

By Santhosh V PerumalBusiness Reporter

Foreign institutions’ bearish grip strengthened yesterday as their net selling surged to 14.75% from 7.09% in the previous day

Increased profit booking by foreign institutions led to a weak opening on the Qatar Exchange yesterday amid dampened trading sentiments.Buying interest within local retail investors notwithstanding, the 20-stock benchmark fell 0.30% or 25 points to 8,375.04. The market is down 3.53% year-to-date.Barwa, QNB, Masraf Al Rayan and Qatar Electricity and Water were among the prime losers.The indices of services and lenders fell 0.56% and 0.35%; while those of insurance and industry gained 1.10% and 0.12% respectively.Market capitalisation lost 0.16% or QR73mn to QR450.41bn with mid, micro and large cap equities, falling 0.33%, 0.29% and 0.21% respectively; even as small caps gained 0.16%.Of the 42 stocks, only 13 advanced, while 22 declined, three were unchanged and four not traded.Foreign institutions’ bearish grip strengthened as their net selling surged to 14.75% from 7.09% in the previous day.A lower 22.72% of them were into buying compared to 24.34% last Thursday; while a higher 37.47% were into selling against 31.43%.Domestic institutions turned profit-takers as they were net sellers to the tune of 0.84% compared with net buyers of 6.43% the previous day.A lower 20.33% of them bought equities against 28.13% last Thursday and a marginally lower 21.17% of them sold compared to 21.70%.However, Qatari individual investors’ bullish grip considerably strengthened as their net buying zoomed to 11.66% from 0.26% in the previous day.A much higher 42.15% of them purchased equities against 32.69% last Thursday whereas a lower 30.49% sold compared to 32.43%.Non-Qatari retail investors were increasingly bullish as their net buying rose to 3.92% from 0.40% in the previous day.A marginally lower 14.79% of them were into buying compared to 14.84% last Thursday and a lower 10.87% were into offloading against 14.44%.Total trading volume plunged 43% to 3.70mn equities, value by 34% to QR150.82mn and deals by 35% to 2,797.The insurance sector’s trading volume plummeted 80% to 0.03mn shares, value by 80% to QR1.74mn and transactions by 75% to 30.Banks’ trading volume shrank 58% to 0.93mn equities, value by 32% to QR51.54mn and deals by 37% to 902.The services sector’s trading volume shrank 34% to 2.31mn shares, value by 47% to QR57.14mn and transactions by 35% to 1,376.The industrial sector witnessed a 29% fall in trading volume to 0.44mn shares whereas value rose 10% to QR40.41mn but deals were down 19% to 489.Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Barwa (736,919 shares); Aamal Company (485,170); Rayan (479,140); Vodafone Qatar (334,025) and Nakilat (303,458).