Brisk buying takes Doha bourse higher

By Santhosh V PerumalBusiness Reporter

The Dubai benchmark fell 1.2% to 1,549 points, yesterday

Brisk buying by domestic institutions was to a great extend contained by heavy selling by foreign institutions that the Qatar Exchange settled mere 0.1% higher 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.