By Santhosh V Perumal/Business Reporter


The Qatar bourse is down 1.34% year-to-date
Strong buying, especially in telecom stocks, yesterday halted the two-day losing run on the Qatar Exchange.
Notwithstanding the selling pressure from local retail investors and domestic institutions, the QE Index (based on price data) rose 0.10% to 8,661.46 points.
However, the market is down 1.34% year-to-date.
The All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) and the Total Return Index also rose 0.23% and 0.10% to 2,058.09 and 11,612.39 points respectively. Both the indices factored in dividend income as well.
Major gainers were Industries Qatar, Dlala, Al Khalij Holding, Mazaya Qatar, Qatar Telecom and Nakilat, even as Commercialbank, Doha Bank and Gulf International Services bucked the trend.
Under the All Share Index category, the telecom index shot up 3.62%, followed by insurance (1.74%), transport (0.33%), industrials (0.17%) and consumer goods (0.10%), while the indices of banks and financial services and real estate fell 0.27% and 0.05% respectively. Market capitalisation rose 0.28% or more than QR1bn to QR461.66bn with small, micro and large cap equities notably gaining 1.01%, 0.43% and 0.26% respectively; while mid caps lost 0.36%.
Of the 42 stocks, 21 advanced, while 18 declined, one was unchanged and two were not traded.
Foreign institutions turned bullish as they were net buyers to the tune of 2.23% against net sellers of 6.09% the previous day.
A marginally higher 11.55% of them were into buying compared to 11.33% on Wednesday, whereas a much lower 9.32% of them into selling against 17.42%.
However, domestic institutions turned profit-takers as they were net sellers to the extent of 2.07% compared with net buyers of 3.89% the previous day.
A marginally lower 20.13% of them bought equities against 21.09% on Wednesday, while a higher 22.20% offloaded compared to 17.20%.
Qatari individual investors also turned bearish as they were net sellers to the tune of 1.36% against net buyers of 1.11% the previous day.
A marginally higher 48.94% of them purchased equities against 47.51% on Wednesday and a higher 50.30% sold compared to 46.40%.
Non-Qatari retail investors were increasingly bullish as their net buying rose to 1.21% from 1.10% the previous day.
A marginally lower 19.38% of them were into buying compared to 20.07% on Wednesday and a marginally lower 18.17% were into offloading against 18.97%.
Total trading volume gained 70% to 19.92mn equities, value by 50% to QR580.43mn and deals by 35% to 7,378.
The telecom sector’s trading volume jumped almost five-fold to 1.10mn and value by 14-fold to QR40.55mn on a six-fold rise in transactions to 619.
The real estate sector’s trading volume more than doubled to 3.28mn shares, value soared 96% to QR44.78mn and deals by 87% to 836.
The transport sector’s trading volume doubled to 1.72mn shares and value more than doubled to QR30.19mn on a 6% rise in transactions to 437.
The industrials sector’s trading volume surged 95% to 5.85mn shares, value by 78% to QR166.75mn and deals by 75% to 2,183.
The insurance sector’s trading volume soared 83% to 0.11mn shares, value more than doubled to QR4.58mn and transactions also more than doubled to 123.
The consumer goods and services sector’s trading volume shot up 59% to 3.21mn shares, value by 38% to QR100.93mn and deals by 11% to 1,469.
The banks and financial services sector’s trading volume was up 11% to 4.65mn shares and value by 8% to QR192.63mn but deals fell 8% to 1,711.
Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Al Khalij Holding (4.93mn shares); Mazaya Qatar (2.52mn); Dlala (2.33mn); Nakilat (1.68mn) and Medicare Group (1.53mn).
Ezdan Q1 profit jumps to QR144mn
Ezdan Real Estate Investment Company has reported an almost quadrupling of first quarter net profit to QR143.87mn mainly on gains from sale of property investment.
Rental revenues, otherwise, fell 8% to QR110.08mn and other operating incomes by 22% to QR2.62mn, according to its financial statement filed with the Qatar Exchange.
Although operating expenses rose only by a marginal 0.54% to QR20.11mn; the company’s gross profit on rental activities fell 10% to QR92.59mn. It also reported a QR7mn gross profit on construction activities.
However, there was a huge QR106.77mn gain on sale of investment property, which accounted for more than 74% of the net profit and 54% of the operating profit of QR199.36mn. Other income rose 32% to QR2.82mn. General and administrative costs surged 61% to QR18.61mn while finance costs were down 29% to QR37.93mn.
Total assets were valued at QR32.50bn, mainly comprising property investments of QR30.95bn.
Total equity stood at QR27.88bn on a capital base of QR26.52bn and earnings-per-share was QR0.22 at the end of March 31, 2012.