By Santhosh V Perumal/Business Reporter


Commercialbank, Doha Bank, Masraf Al Rayan, Industries Qatar and Barwa were among the prime gainers on the Qatar Exchange yesterday
Strong buying support from foreign institutions yesterday lifted the Qatar Exchange by 0.77%.
Local retail and institutions’ profit-booking notwithstanding, the 20-stock benchmark settled 62 points higher at 8,171.48 points. The market is however down 5.88% year-to-date.
The insurance index gained 1.44%, followed by banks (0.82%), services (0.68%) and industry (0.59%).
Commercialbank (Cb), Doha Bank, Masraf Al Rayan, Industries Qatar (IQ) and Barwa were among the prime gainers.
Market capitalisation gained 0.40% or about QR2bn to QR430.43bn with large, mid and micro cap equities strengthening 0.72%, 0.63% and 0.49% respectively, even as small caps fell 0.59%.
Of the 42 stocks, 28 advanced, while only 11 declined, one was unchanged and two were not traded.
Foreign institutions’ bearish grip turned bullish as they were net buyers to the tune of 16.75% against net sellers of 27.31% the previous day.
A much higher 38.06% of them were into buying compared to 16.22% on Wednesday whereas a much lower 21.31% were into selling against 43.53%.
However, domestic institutions turned profit-takers as they were net sellers to the extent of 13.12% compared with net buyers of 14.77% the previous day.
A much lower 14.95% of them bought equities against 37.30% on Wednesday while a higher 28.07% of them sold compared to 22.53%.
Qatari individual investors turned bearish as they were net sellers to the tune of 3.80% against net buyers of 10.19% the previous day.
A marginally lower 34.91% of them purchased equities compared to 35.11% on Wednesday but a much higher 38.71% sold against 24.92%.
Non-Qatari retail investors’ bullish grip slackened as their net buying sunk to 0.18% from 2.36% the previous day.
A marginally higher 12.09% of them were into buying compared to 11.37% on Wednesday and a higher 11.91% were into offloading against 9.01%.
Total trading volume was down 8% to 5.41mn equities, value by 14% to QR234.98mn and deals by 2% to 4,165.
The insurance sector’s trading volume plunged 60% to 0.02mn shares, value by 21% to QR1.49mn and transactions by 16% to 48.
The industrial sector’s trading volume tanked 45% to 0.79mn shares, value by 37% to QR68.88mn and deals by 19% to 739.
The services sector’s trading volume fell 19% to 2.55mn shares, value by 24% to QR65.34mn and transactions by 9% to 1,764.
However, the banks’ trading volume soared 65% to 2.04mn equities, value by 31% to QR99.27mn and deals by 21% to 1,614.
Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Mawashi (937,805 shares); Masraf Al Rayan (881,877); Cb (567,370); IQ (515,007) and Barwa (490,762).
Eid Holidays
The Qatar Exchange has announced that the bourse will remain closed from Tuesday (August 30) to Thursday (September 1) in view of Eid al-Fitr. Trading will resume on Sunday (September 4), a bourse spokesman said. The government had earlier announced that its holidays would be from August 28 to September 5.