By Santhosh V Perumal/Business Reporter
Selling pressure, particularly in the industrials, yesterday dragged the Qatar Exchange, after remaining bullish for three days.Local retail investors largely resorted to profit-booking as the 20-stock benchmark shed 0.43% or 37 points to 8,646.60 points. The market is down 1.51% year-to-date.Industries Qatar, United Development Company (UDC), Qatar Islamic Bank, Salam International Investment and Barwa were among the prime losers, even as Al Khalij Holding, Dlala, Nakilat and Mazaya Qatar bucked the trend.The industrials’ index shrank the maximum of 3.49% and banks lost 0.07%, whereas services rose 0.40% and insurance continued to remain flat.Market capitalisation was down 0.98% or more than QR4bn to QR451.79bn with large and small cap equities eroding 0.78% and 0.16%; while micro and mid caps gained 0.26% and 0.18% respectively.Of the 42 stocks, 18 advanced, while 19 declined, three were unchanged and two not traded.Qatari individual investors turned profit-takers as they were net sellers to the tune of 0.53% against net buyers of 7.94% the previous day.A lower 47.45% of them purchased equities compared to 53.44% on Monday, while a higher 47.98% sold against 45.50%.However, non-Qatari retail investors turned bullish as they were net buyers to the extent of 2.57% compared with net sellers of 2.36% the previous day.A higher 17.09% of them were into buying against 14.21% on Monday whereas a lower 14.52% were into offloading compared to 16.57%.Foreign institutions were increasingly bearish as their net selling surged to 10.14% from 7.12% the previous day.A lower 10.46% of them were into buying against 13.55% on Monday and a marginally lower 20.60% of them into selling compared to 20.67%.Domestic institutions were increasingly bullish as their net buying surged to 8.10% from 1.54% the previous day.A higher 25% of them bought equities against 18.80% on Monday while a marginally lower 16.90% offloaded compared to 17.26%.Total trading volume rose 19% to 17.75mn equities, value by 27% to QR444.89mn and deals by 19% to 5,697.The banking sector’s trading volume shot up 39% to 1.98mn shares, value by 46% to QR102.78mn and transactions by 41% to 1,118.The services sector’s trading volume surged 19% to 9.71mn shares, value by 10% to QR193.75mn and deals by 2% to 2,912.The industrials’ trading volume gained 16% to 6.01mn shares, value by 48% to QR146.32mn and transactions by 53% to 1,615.However, the insurance sector’s trading volume plunged 62% to 0.05mn shares, value by 62% to QR2.04mn and deals by 39% to 52.Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were UDC (3.36mn shares); Nakilat (3.35mn); Mazaya Qatar (2.49mn); Al Khalij Holding (2.27mn) and Masraf Al Rayan (1.06mn).There were no trades in the 10 treasury bills.