Qatar shares rally for 7th day as new indices come into force

Consumer goods and services, real estate, transportation and financial services stocks were the most sought after at the Qatar Exchange, which continued to remain on the positive trajectory for the seventh consecutive session.The 20-stock benchmark (based on price data only) settled 0.65% higher at 8,848.27 points on buying support from both domestic and foreign institutions. The market is up 0.79% year-to-date.The new Total Return Index and All Share Index (both of which incorporate dividend income as well), introduced from yesterday, were up 0.24% and 0.60% at 2,066.33 and 11,788.24 points respectively.Major gainers included QNB, Mawashi, Industries Qatar, Mazaya Qatar, Barwa and Nakilat; even as Aamal Company and Dlala bucked the trend.The All Share consumer goods and services index rose 1.09%, followed by real estate (0.97%), transportation (0.91%) and banks and financial services (0.81%); while insurance and industrials indices fell 1.65% and 1.22% respectively. Telecoms stood unchanged.Market capitalisation gained 0.48% or more than QR2bn to QR465.58bn mainly with mid and small cap equities adding 0.27% and 0.18% respectively, whereas large caps fell 0.04%.Of the 42 stocks, 28 advanced, while 11 declined, one was unchanged and two were not traded.Domestic institutions were increasingly bullish as their net buying surged to 10.84% from 6.34% the previous day.A higher 24.75% of them bought equities against 22.59% last Thursday while a lower 13.91% offloaded compared to 16.25%.Foreign institutions’ bullish grip strengthened as their net buying rose to 2.27% from 0.21% the previous day.A higher 16.63% of them were into buying against 10.71% last Thursday although a higher 14.36% of them into selling compared to 10.50%.Qatari individual investors continued to be profit-takers but with lesser intensity as their net selling fell to 8.97% from 9.72% the previous day.A lower 44.85% of them purchased equities compared to 47.14% last Thursday and a lower 53.82% sold against 56.86%.Non-Qatari retail investors turned profit-takers as they were net sellers to the tune of 4.14% compared with net buyers of 3.17% the previous day.A lower 13.77% of them were into buying against 19.57% last Thursday, whereas a marginally higher 17.91% were into offloading compared to 16.40%.Total trading volume shrank 13% to 9.87mn equities, value by 9% to QR291.98mn and deals by 3% to 5,219.The banking and financial services sector witnessed a total 2.72mn stocks worth QR99.40mn trade across 1,462 transactions.The real estate sector saw a total of 2.60mn equities valued at QR37.43mn change hands across 727 deals.A total 1.64mn consumer goods and services stocks worth QR62.56mn were undertaken in 1,183 transactions.The industrials sector witnessed a total 1.31mn shares valued at QR58.95mn change hands across 967 deals.The insurance and telecom sectors saw a total of 0.03mn and 0.40mn scrips valued at QR1.11mn and QR6.07mn trade across 42 and 224 transactions respectively.Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Mazaya Qatar (1.73mn shares); Masraf Al Rayan (1.33mn); Nakilat (1.02mn); Mawashi (703,571) and Qatari German Company for Medical Devices (647,959).There were no trades in the treasury bills.