Banking, consumer goods and telecom stocks lift Qatar shares

By Santhosh V Perumal/Business Reporter

The Qatar Exchange was back in black yesterday, mainly lifted by banking, consumer goods and telecom stocks.

Lower selling pressure from both local retail investors and domestic institutions led the 20-stock QE Index (based on price data) to gain 0.46% to close at 8,614.14 points.

Mid and large cap equities witnessed buying interests in the market, which is up 3.05% year-to-date (YTD).

Consumer goods, transport, industrials, telecom and banking sectors outperformed the index by gaining 10.15%, 9.80%, 9.45%, 9.19% and 5.17% YTD respectively. The real estate index plunged 4.77% and insurance by 1.17%.

Major gainers included Doha Bank, QNB, Commercialbank and Mawashi, even as Barwa and Mazaya Qatar bucked the trend.

The 20-stock Total Return Index also gained 0.46% to 12,031.15 points, the All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) by 0.37% to 2,141.77 points and the Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.23% to 2,570.72 points. All the three indices factored in dividend income as well.

Under the All Share Index category, the index of banks and financial services shot up 0.95%, followed by consumer goods (0.60%), telecom (0.48%) and transport (0.11%), while industrial fell 0.33%, insurance 0.25% and realty 0.13%.

Market capitalisation expanded 0.36%, or about QR2bn, to QR470.55bn with mid, large and small cap equities gaining 0.83%, 0.42% and 0.13% respectively.

Mid and large cap equities have gained 5.39% and 2.64% YTD; while micro and small caps lost 4.46% and 1.30% respectively. Of the 42 stocks, 20 advanced, while only 16 declined and three were unchanged. Three others were not traded.

Domestic institutions turned net buyers to the tune of 3.67% or QR5.72mn. A marginally lower 20.09% of them were into buying against 20.67% the previous day and a lower 16.42% of them into selling compared to 24.83%.

Qatari individual investors were also net buyers to the extent of 0.66% or QR1.03mn. A lower 37.50% of them purchased equities against 41.92% on Sunday and a lower 36.84% sold compared to 42.15%.

Foreign institutions turned net sellers to the tune of 2.83% or QR4.41mn. A marginally higher 24.21% of them bought equities against 24.13% the previous day and a higher 27.04% offloaded compared to 19.88%.

Non-Qatari individual investors turned net profit-takers to the extent of 1.49% or QR2.32mn. A higher 18.21% of them bought equities against 13.28% on Sunday and a higher 19.70% sold compared to 13.13%.

Total trading volume shrank 17% to 4.07mn shares, value by 24% to QR155.96mn and deals by 4% to 2,853.

The industrials sector’s trading volume plummeted 78% to 0.11mn shares, value by 85% to QR4.82mn and transactions by 73% to 102.

The transport sector’s trading volume plunged 55% to 0.64mn shares, value by 50% to QR14.19mn and deals by 37% to 302.

The consumer goods and services sector’s trading volume tanked 47% to 0.16mn shares, value by 63% to QR20.20mn and transactions by 40% to 344.

The real estate sector’s trading volume declined 40% to 0.65mn shares, value by 44% to QR14.30mn and deals by 6% to 411.

The telecom sector’s trading volume shrank 37% to 0.24mn shares, value by 11% to QR8.04mn and transactions by 13% to 109.

However, the insurance sector’s trading volume more than quadrupled to 0.13mn shares and value also more than quadrupled to QR6.22mn on an 85% jump in deals to 120.

The banks and financial services sector’s trading volume surged 83% to 2.14mn shares, value by 65% to QR88.18mn and transactions by 60% to 1,465.

Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Nakilat (564,815 shares); Barwa (478,855); Doha Bank (451,812); Qatar Oman Investment (421,166) and Masraf Al Rayan (409,426).