Buy interests from foreign institutions lift Qatar shares

By Santhosh V Perumal/Business Reporter

Substantial buying interests from foreign institutions yesterday lifted the Qatar Exchange for the second day.

Domestic institutions were, however, seen hurriedly squaring off their positions, but the 20-stock QE Index (based on price data) rose 0.23% to 8,568.63 points.

Buying was pronounced in realty, consumer goods, banking and industrials sectors in the market, which is up 2.51% year-to-date (YTD).

Major gainers included QNB, Masraf Al Rayan, Industries Qatar, United Development Company, Mazaya Qatar, Vodafone Qatar and Nakilat, even as Gulf International Services (GIS) and Barwa bucked the trend.

The 20-stock Total Return Index surged 0.53% to 12,238.41 points, the All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) by 0.58% to 2,179.13 points and the Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.43% to 2,577.14 points.

All the three indices factored in dividend income as well.

Under the All Share Index category, the real estate index shot up 1.98%, followed by insurance (0.74%), consumer goods (0.57%), banks and financial services (0.56%) and industrials (0.54%), while transport fell 0.27%.

Industrials, consumer goods, telecom, transport and banking sectors outperformed the key indices, gaining YTD 14.69%, 11.60%, 9.94%, 9.16% and 5.38% respectively. The realty index shrank 3.16%, while the insurance index gained 2.30%.

Market capitalisation expanded 0.45%, or more than QR2bn, to QR470.73bn with large and small cap equities gaining 0.63% and 0.29%; even as micro and mid caps fell 0.63% and 0.07% respectively.

Mid and large cap equities reported 3.89% and 2.85% gains YTD, whereas micro and small caps lost 5.65% and 0.14% respectively.

Of the 42 stocks, 21 advanced, while 13 declined and four were unchanged. Four others were not traded.

Foreign institutions’ net buying surged to 41.80% or QR100.75mn. A much higher 51.07% of them bought equities against 37.17% the previous day, while a much lower 9.27% offloaded compared to 26.40%.

However, domestic institutions’ net selling soared to 39.41% or QR94.99mn. A much lower 8.51% of them were into buying against 22.51% on Tuesday, whereas a much higher 47.92% of them into selling compared to 23.66%.

Qatari individual investors’ net profit-booking sunk to 3.79% or QR9.13mn. A marginally higher 28.75% of them purchased equities against 27.22% the previous day, while a lower 32.54% sold compared to 34.83%.

Non-Qatari individual investors turned net buyers to the tune of 1.40%, or QR3.37mn. A lower 11.67% of them bought equities against 13.09% on Tuesday and a lower 10.27% sold compared to 15.11%.

Total trading volume rose 74% to 7.29mn shares, value by 47% to QR241.02mn and deals by 44% to 3,674.

The real estate sector’s trading volume grew more than 10-fold to 3.06mn shares and value by more than 14-fold to QR57.59mn on about seven-fold rise in transactions to 1,108.

The banks and financial services sector’s trading volume more than doubled to 1.95mn shares, value surged 72% to QR72.58mn and deals by 43% to 999.

The consumer goods and services sector’s trading volume soared 61% to 0.37mn shares, value by 52% to QR33.67mn and transactions by 26% to 404.

The insurance sector’s trading volume expanded 50% to 0.09mn shares and value by 27% to QR3.57mn while deals fell 15% to 53.

However, the industrials sector’s trading volume plummeted 46% to 0.74mn shares and value by 24% to QR53.01mn whereas transactions gained 4% to 663.

The telecom sector’s trading volume plunged 44% to 0.23mn shares, value by 13% to QR5.71mn and deals by 40% to 127.

The transport sector’s trading volume tanked 6% to 0.85mn shares, value by 6% to QR14.89mn and transactions by 29% to 320.

Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Barwa (1.56mn shares); Mazaya Qatar (953,233); Nakilat (820,226); Qatar Oman Investment (712,673) and GIS (474,121).

In the debt market, as many as 10,000 treasury bills (TA55) valued at QR99.24mn traded across two transactions.