Local buy support help QE extend rally

 By Santhosh V Perumal/Business Reporter

The Qatar Exchange yesterday maintained its bullish run for the third day mainly on buying support from local retail investors.

Foreign institutions were seen largely reducing their purchases, while domestic institutions’ profit-booking became intense as the 20-stock QE Index (based on price data) rose 0.44% to 8,727.83 points.

The banking and transport stocks outperformed the index, which is up 4.41% year-to-date (YTD). The telecom and industrials sectors were the best performers YTD as their stocks gained 6.89% and 5.31% respectively, while insurance and real estate indices were in the negative turf.

The 20-stock Total Return Index gained 0.44% to 11,811.90 points, the All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) by 0.36% to 2,094.20 points and the Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.63% to 2,538.10 points.

All the three indices factored in dividend income as well.

Under the All Share Index category, the index of banks and financial services gained 0.50%, followed by transport (0.48%), insurance (0.47%), realty (0.39%) and industrials (0.34%); while the indices of consumer goods and telecom fell 0.48% and 0.01% respectively.

More than 69% of the stocks extended gains with major movers being Qatar Islamic Bank, Mawashi, Industries Qatar, Qatari Investors Group, Gulf International Services, Barwa, Vodafone Qatar and Milaha.

Qatari individual investors’ net profit-booking sunk to 1.12% or QR2.15mn. A much higher 32.29% of them purchased equities compared to 22.24% on Tuesday, while a lower 33.41% sold against 38.94%.

Non-Qatari retail investors’ net selling fell to 0.29% or QR0.55mn. A higher 12.47% of them were into buying against 6.66% the previous day and a higher 12.76% compared to 7.56%.

Foreign institutions’ net buying shrank to 6.86% or QR13.18mn. A much lower 22.93% of them bought equities compared to 54.88% on Tuesday and a lower 16.07% offloaded against 27.47%.

Domestic institutions’ net selling fell to 5.46% or QR10.49mn. A higher 32.30% of them were into buying against 16.22% the previous day and a higher 37.76% of them into selling compared to 26.03%.

Total trading volume was up 2% to 4.25mn shares, while value fell 23% to QR192.10mn but deals rose 23% to 2,974.

The telecom sector’s trading volume more than doubled to 0.42mn shares, value soared 32% to QR15.68mn and transactions by 79% to 243.

The consumer goods and services sector’s trading volume shot up 90% to 0.38mn shares, value by 98% to QR26.83mn and deals by 81% to 482.

The industrials sector’s trading volume expanded 28% to 0.91mn shares, while value shrank 32% to QR46.85mn but transactions gained 19% to 669.

The real estate sector’s trading volume surged 18% to 0.40mn shares, value by 17% to QR7.70mn and deals by 59% to 194.

However, the insurance sector’s trading volume plummeted 69% to 0.11mn shares and value by 69% to QR7.41mn, but there was a 28% jump in transactions to 83.

The banks and financial services sector’s trading volume plunged 15% to 1.68mn shares and value by 35% to QR73.64mn while deals rose by less than 1% to 1,024.

The transport sector’s trading volume tanked 10% to 0.35mn shares, whereas value gained 30% to QR11.99mn and transactions by 17% to 279.

Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were GIS (681,988 shares); Masraf Al Rayan (454,057); National Leasing (378,871); Doha Bank (352,140) and Vodafone Qatar (299,347).

Gulf markets mixed

Egypt’s bourse recovered yesterday from a four-week low as bargain hunters shrugged off political unrest, while Gulf markets were mixed.

Cairo’s main index rose 1.5%, halting two sessions of sharp declines after the government declared a state of emergency in three cities on the Suez Canal.

Elsewhere, petrochemical stocks helped lift Saudi Arabia’s index as better-than-forecast European data spurred optimism for the global economy and drove oil prices higher.

The kingdom’s index gained 0.2%.

In the United Arab Emirates, Dubai’s Emaar Properties hit a 39-month high as investors bet the developer will announce market-pleasing earnings and dividends for 2012. Dubai’s index rose 1.1% to - its highest close since March 2010 - while Abu Dhabi’s benchmark climbed 0.4%.

Elsewhere, Kuwait’s index slipped 0.1% to 6,241 points; Oman’s index declined 0.6% to 5,801 points; Bahrain’s index eased 0.06% to 1,085 points.