Qatar shares snap rally amid foreign profit-taking

By Santhosh V PerumalBusiness Reporter

Foreign institutions were bearish on the Qatar bourse yesterday as they were net sellers to the tune of 4.29 against net buyers of 6.09% the previous day

Profit-booking by foreign institutions negated their domestic counterparts’ buying interests as the Qatar Exchange yesterday snapped a two-day winning streak, mirroring the overall trend in the Gulf markets.Led down by large and mid cap segments, the 20-stock benchmark fell 0.31% or 26 points to 8,405.59. The market is down 3.18% year-to-date.Commercialbank, Masraf Al Rayan, Industries Qatar, Nakilat and Barwa were among those hit by selling pressure.The indices of industry, services and lenders fell 0.66%, 0.31% and 0.25% respectively; while insurance gained 0.25%.Market capitalisation was down 0.26% or more than QR1bn to QR440.21bn mainly on large and mid cap equities, which fell 0.34% and 0.25% respectively.Of the 42 stocks, 19 advanced, while 21 declined and one was unchanged. Another one was not traded.Foreign institutions turned bearish as they were net sellers to the tune of 4.29% against net buyers of 6.09% the previous day.A much lower 11.72% of them were into buying compared to 25.92% on Sunday and a lower 16.01% were into selling against 19.83%.Domestic institutions were however increasingly bullish as their net buying surged to 10.96% from 0.27% the previous day.A much higher 32.21% of them bought equities against 22.08% on Sunday whereas a marginally lower 21.25% of them sold compared to 21.81%.Qatari individual investors continued to be profit-takers but with lesser intensity as their net selling fell to 1.29% from 5.37% the previous day.A marginally higher 41.20% of them purchased equities compared to 40.43% on Sunday while a lower 42.49% sold against 45.80%.Non-Qatari retail investors’ bearish grip strengthened as their net selling shot up to 5.39% from 0.98% the previous day.A higher 14.87% of them were into buying compared to 11.57% on Sunday and a higher 20.26% were into offloading against 12.55%.Total trading volume shrank 46% to 4.91mn equities, value by 47% to QR190.30mn and deals by 28% to 3,851.The banks’ trading volume plummeted 70% to 1.25mn equities, value by 63% to QR50.28mn and transactions by 45% to 901.The industrial sector’s trading volume plunged 58% to 0.41mn shares, value by 62% to QR36.93mn and deals by 44% to 580.The services sector’s trading volume tanked 21% to 2.95mn shares, value by 23% to QR85.87mn and transactions by 18% to 1,983.However, the insurance sector’s trading volume gained 43% to 0.30mn shares, value by 49% to QR17.23mn and deals by 55% to 387Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Rayan (708,398 shares); Barwa (578,387); Qatar Oman Investment (429,610); National Leasing (305,855) and Mazaya Qatar (277,548).