Profit-booking dampens sentiments on Qatar bourse despite buy interests

Profit booking weighed on the Qatar Exchange yesterday despite buying interests in industrials, realty and consumer goods equities.Foreign institutions considerably reduced their exposure and domestic institutions were seen exerting selling pressure as the QE Index (based on price data) fell 0.08% to 8,307.18 points. The market is down 5.37% year-to-date.The All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) and the Total Return Index also fell 0.04% and 0.08% to 2,003.86 and 11,242.61 points respectively. Both the indices factored in dividend income as well.Major shakers included QNB, Qatar Islamic Bank, Qatar Telecom and Nakilat, even as Barwa, Mazaya Qatar and Gulf Warehousing bucked the trend.Under the All Share Index category, the insurance index tanked 1.50%, followed by telecom (0.50%) and banks and financial services (0.14%), while the indices of industrials, real estate, consumer goods and transport rose 0.41%, 0.28%, 0.25% and 0.02% respectively.Market capitalisation surged 2.43% or about QR11bn to QR456.98bn with micro and mid cap equities gaining 0.47% and 0.31%, while small and large caps fell 0.45% and 0.04% respectively.Of the 42 stocks, 21 gained, while 13 declined, five were unchanged and three were not traded.Foreign institutions turned profit-takers as they were net sellers to the tune of 2.53% compared with net buyers of 2.86% the previous day. Their net selling amounted to QR3.15mn.A much lower 9.77% of them were into buying against 24.46% on Tuesday and a lower 12.30% of them into selling compared to 21.60%.Domestic institutions were increasingly bullish as their net buying rose to 6.97% from 4.42% the previous day. Their net buying stood at QR8.68mn.A higher 15.62% of them bought equities compared to 12.13% on Tuesday and a marginally higher 8.65% offloaded against 7.71%.Qatari individual investors continued to be profit-takers but with lesser intensity as their net selling sunk to 1.42% from 5.95% the previous day. Their net selling amounted to QR1.77mn.A much higher 51.46% of them purchased equities compared to 41.84% on Tuesday and a higher 55.88% sold against 47.79%.Non-Qatari retail investors were increasingly bearish as their net selling soared to 3.03% from 1.33% the previous day. Their net selling stood at QR3.77mn.A marginally lower 20.15% of them were into buying against 21.57% on Tuesday, while a marginally higher 23.18% were into offloading against 22.90%.Total trading volume was rather flat at 5.64mn equities, while value shrank 21% to QR124.51mn and deals by 18% to 2,581.The industrials sector’s trading volume plunged 23% to 0.36mn shares, value by 31% to QR18.09mn and transactions by 26% to 341.The banks and financial services sector’s trading volume tanked 19% to 2.75mn shares, value by 35% to QR54.25mn and deals by 30% to 1,069.The insurance sector’s trading volume declined 17% to 0.05mn shares, value by 26% to QR2.45mn and transactions by 22% to 73.The consumer goods and services sector’s trading volume was down 7% to 0.64mn shares, value by 19% to QR14.19mn and deals by 27% to 329.However, the real estate sector’s trading volume zoomed 87% to 0.73mn shares, value by 89% to QR11.41mn and transactions by 48% to 335.The telecom sector’s trading volume surged 85% to 0.61mn shares, while value fell 7% to QR10.53mn, but deals gained 5% to 218.The transport sector’s trading volume soared 71% to 0.48mn shares, value by 49% to QR13.59mn and transactions by 21% to 216.Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Qatar Oman Investment (2.10mn shares); Vodafone Qatar (562,577); Mazaya Qatar (539,894); Qatari German Company for Medical Devices (368,824) and Masraf Al Rayan (285,860).In the debt market, there was no trading.