Qatar shares hit one-month low on foreign sell pressure

By Santhosh V PerumalBusiness Reporter

Foreign institutions were increasingly bearish on the QE yesterday as their net selling rose to 49.08% from 47.98% the previous day

The Qatar Exchange yesterday hit more than a month low on sustained selling pressure from foreign institutions amid global uncertainty and as the market awaits the third-quarter results.Primarily led down by banking equities, the 20-stock benchmark settled 1.61% or 133 points lower at 8,157.48. The market is down 6.04% year-to-date.Commercialbank (Cb), Doha Bank, Masraf Al Rayan, QNB, Qatar Islamic Bank, Industries Qatar (IQ) and Nakilat were among the prime losers.Maximum selling was seen in banks, whose group index tanked 1.91%, followed by services (1.27%), industry (1.16%) and insurance (0.76%).Market capitalisation eroded 1.26% or more than QR5bn to QR430.62bn with large, mid and small cap equities notably losing 1.64%, 1.55% and 0.75%; even as micro caps gained 0.22%.Of the 42 stocks, only four advanced, while 34 declined and two were unchanged. Two others were not traded.Foreign institutions were increasingly bearish as their net selling rose to 49.08% from 47.98% the previous day.A marginally higher 12.55% of them were into buying compared to 11.27% on Monday but a higher 61.63% were also into selling against 59.25%.Domestic institutions’ bullish grip marginally strengthened as their net buying rose to 29.13% from 28.52% the previous day.A lower 39.80% of them bought equities against 43.76% on Monday and lower 10.67% of them sold compared to 15.24%.Non-Qatari retail investors’ bullish grip gained strength as their net buying surged to 3.22% from 1.04% the previous day.A marginally higher 9.73% of them were into buying against 8.43% on Monday while a marginally lower 6.51% were into offloading compared to 7.39%.Qatari individual investors continued to be bullish but with lesser vigour as their net buying fell to 16.72% from 18.43% the previous day.A marginally higher 37.92% of them purchased equities compared to 36.54% on Monday and a higher 21.20% sold against 18.11%.Total trading volume rose 29% to 7.03mn equities, value by 30% to QR328.80mn and deals by 12% to 4,576.The insurance sector’s trading volume soared 50% to 0.03mn shares, value more than doubled to QR1.95mn and transactions gained 75% to 56.Banks’ trading volume surged 44% to 3.91mn equities, value by 35% to QR198.91mn and deals by 23% to 2,220.The industrial sector’s trading volume expanded 28% to 0.69mn shares, value by 43% to QR68.93mn and transactions by 11% to 684.The services sector’s trading volume was up 9% to 2.39mn shares and value by 5% to QR59.01mn whereas deals fell 2% to 1,616.Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Rayan (2.29mn shares); Nakilat (750,568); Cb (569,984); IQ (538,574) and QNB (488,558).