Business Reporter
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| The Dubai benchmark fell 1.2% to 1,549 points, yesterday |
Led by Masraf Al Rayan, Commercialbank and Industries Qatar, the 20-stock benchmark gained nine points to 8,496.87 points. The market is however down 2.13% year-to-date.
The indices of banks and industry rose 0.37% and 0.17% respectively, while that of services fell 0.41% and insurance was unchanged.
Market capitalisation was up 0.10% or QR43mn to QR451.15bn mainly on large and micro cap equities which gained 0.20% and 0.09%; even as small and mid caps lost 0.09% and 0.04% respectively.
Of the 42 stocks, 14 advanced, while 16 declined, nine were unchanged and three were not traded.
Domestic institutions were increasingly bullish as their net buying surged to 21.47% from 7.21% in the previous day.
A much higher 30.22% of them bought equities against 20.63% on Sunday whereas a lower 8.75% of them sold compared to 13.42%.
On the other hand, foreign institutions’ profit booking considerably strengthened as their net selling swelled to 22.46% from 1.58% in the previous day.
A higher 28.72% of them were into buying compared to 23.67% on Sunday but a much higher 51.18% were into selling against 25.25%.
Qatari individual investors turned bullish that they were net buyers to the tune of 2.14% compared with net sellers of 7.58% in the previous day.
A lower 28.89% of them purchased equities against 37.01% on Sunday and a much lower 26.75% sold compared to 44.59%.
Non-Qatari retail investors turned profit takers that they were net sellers to the extent of 1.16% against net buyers of 1.95% in the previous day.
A lower 12.16% of them were into buying compared to 18.69% on Sunday and a lower 13.32% were into offloading against 16.74%.
Total trading volume rose 19% to 4.03mn equities and value by 39% to QR190.58mn but deals fell by less than 1% to 2,534.
The industrial sector witnessed a more than doubled trading volume to 0.57mn shares, value almost quadrupled to QR61.58mn on a 38% jump in transactions to 325.
The banks’ trading volume surged 26% to 1.90mn equities, value by 11% to QR82.57mn and deals by 9% to 1,230.
However, the insurance sector’s trading volume tanked 50% to 0.02mn shares, value by 54% to QR1.44mn and transactions by 80% to 18.
The services sector’s trading volume was down 5% to 1.54mn shares whereas value rose 8% to QR44.99mn. Deals fell 11% to 961.
Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Rayan (1.36mn shares); IQ (413,892); Nakilat (407,741); Barwa (277,096) and National Leasing (250,304).
Reuters adds: Gulf markets yesterday came under late selling pressure yesterday weighed down by worries about eurozone debt contagion and overshadowing robust earnings from a key Saudi petrochemicals producer.
European and US stocks fell yesterday and the euro fell across the board on concerns that Italy could be the next debt victim.
Saudi Arabia’s index slumped to a two-week low, wiping out gains driven by petrochemical producer Yanbu Petrochemical (Yansab) on estimate-beating second-quarter results. Yansab bucked the trend and gained 2.4%
The petrochemical producer, a unit of Saudi Basic Industries Corp, posted quarterly profit of 963.67mn riyals ($257mn), up from 502.38mn riyals a year earlier due to higher product prices and sales.
The Saudi benchmark eased 0.2% to 6,567 points, its lowest level since June 28.
In Egypt, the benchmark index slumped to an eight-week low, down 2.9% to 5,116 points, as investors fret that anti-government protests may escalate and see little clarity on how the government will react.
Elsewhere, Dubai’s benchmark fell 1.2% to 1,549 points, with lender Emirates NBD and heavyweight Emaar Properties down 5.8% and 1.6% respectively.
Kuwait’s index declined 0.5%6,184 points, down 11.1% so far in 2011.
The Oman measure slid 0.1% to 5,985 points, while the Abu Dhabi index rose 0.1% to 2,725 points and Bahrain’s benchmark eased 0.04% to 1,319 points.