By Santhosh V Perumal
Business Reporter
The Qatar Exchange witnessed a sustained bullish momentum yesterday to inch near the 8,500 mark although domestic institutions largely kept away from the market.
The QE’s 20-stock benchmark yesterday gained 0.39% or 33 points to hit a four-week high of 8,470.36
Amid intense buying and selling activity among local retail investors, the 20-stock benchmark gained 0.39% or 33 points to hit a four-week high of 8,470.36 points.
The market is however down 2.43% year-to-date.
Commercialbank, Doha Bank, Industries Qatar (IQ), Nakilat, Salam International (SIIL) and Barwa were among the prime gainers.
Maximum buying interest was seen in industries, whose group index rose 0.66%, followed by services (0.50%), banks (0.28%) and insurance (0.26%).
Market capitalisation was up 0.45% or QR2bn to QR443.99bn with mid, small, micro and large cap equities gaining 0.81%, 0.35%, 0.26% and 0.22% respectively.
Of the 42 stocks, 28 advanced, while only nine declined, three were unchanged and two were not traded.
Foreign institutions continued to be bullish but with lesser vigour as their net buying fell to 7.86% from 8.14% the previous day.
A higher 27.83% of them were into buying compared to 21.70% on Sunday and a higher 19.97% were into selling against 13.56%.
Domestic institutions’ bullish grip strengthened as their net buying rose to 8.38% from 5.68% the previous day.
A much lower 27.47% of them bought equities against 48% on Sunday and a much lower 19.09% of them sold compared to 42.32%.
Qatari individual investors’ bearish grip strengthened as their selling surged to 12.92% from 10.42% the previous day.
A much higher 37.94% of them purchased equities compared to 22.99% on Sunday and a much higher 50.86% sold against 33.41%.
Non-Qatari retail investors’ profit-booking marginally weakened as their net selling fell to 3.31% from 3.39% the previous day.
A marginally lower 6.77% of them were into buying against 7.31% on Sunday and a marginally lower 10.08% were into offloading compared to 10.70%.
Total trading volume jumped 39% to 6.94mn equities, value by 5% to QR281.29mn and deals by 26% to 4,309.
The services sector’s trading volume surged 73% to 3.24mn shares, value by 8% to QR95.61mn and transactions by 48% to 1,969.
The insurance sector’s trading volume zoomed 60% to 0.16mn shares, value by 87% to QR9.67mn and deals by 69% to 225.
The banks’ trading volume gained 28% to 2.90mn shares, value by 11% to QR120.82mn and transactions by 4% to 1,450.
However, the industrial sector’s trading volume was down 16% to 0.65mn shares and value by 14% to QR55.19mn whereas deals rose 19% to 665.
Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Masraf Al Rayan (2.09mn shares); Barwa (1.07mn); SIIL (500,514); Nakilat (490,165) and IQ (396,012).
