By Santhosh V Perumal/Business Reporter

 

Profit-booking, especially by foreign institutions, yesterday imparted bearish momentum to the Qatar Exchange.

Telecom, consumer goods, industrials and banking sectors witnessed selling pressure as the 20-stock Qatar Index (based on price data) fell 0.11% to 8,667.85 points.

However, strong buying interests were visible among domestic institutions in the market, which is up 3.70% year-to-date (YTD).

Major losers included Industries Qatar, Gulf International Services, Barwa and Qatar Islamic Bank; even as Commercial Bank, United Development Company (UDC), Vodafone Qatar and Milaha bucked the trend.

The 20-stock Total Return Index also fell 0.11% to 12,384.37 points, the All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) by 0.13% to 2,209.72 points and the Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.09% to 2,632.92 points.

All the three indices factored in dividend income as well.

Under the All Share Index category, the telecom index shrank 0.71%, followed by consumer goods (0.37%), industrials (0.29%) and banks and financial services (0.27%); while that of transport surged 1.64%, insurance 1.40% and realty gained 0.02%.

Industrials, telecom, consumer goods, transport, banking and insurance sectors outperformed the key indices, gaining YTD 20.44%, 14.24%, 12.73%, 10.28%, 4.49% and 4.08% respectively; even as the realty index shrank 3.47%.

Market capitalisation eroded 0.18%, or QR85mn to QR479.26bn, mainly due to a 0.29% fall in large cap equities; while small and mid caps rose 0.41% and 0.29% respectively.

Large, mid and small cap equities have gained YTD 3.83%, 3.65% and 2.81% respectively; while micro caps tanked 4.98%.

Of the 42 stocks, 15 advanced, while 17 declined and five unchanged. Five others were not traded.

Foreign institutions turned net sellers to the tune of 1.87% or QR4.41mn. A marginally higher 23.08% of them bought equities against 23.05% on Tuesday and a higher 24.95% offloaded compared to 19.78%.

However, domestic institutions turned net buyers to the extent of 5.39% or QR12.72mn. A higher 26.09% of them were into buying against 17.02% the previous day and a higher 20.70% of them into selling compared to 17.38%.

Qatari individual investors turned net profit-takers to the tune of 1.26% or QR2.97mn. A lower 41.71% of them purchased equities against 50.88% the previous day and a lower 42.97% sold compared to 48.96%.

Non-Qatari individual investors’ net selling fell to 2.26% or QR5.33mn. A marginally higher 9.12% of them bought equities against 9.05% on Tuesday, while a lower 11.38% sold compared to 13.89%.

Total trading volume shrank 35% to 5.95mn shares, value by 18% to QR236mn and deals by 30% to 2,735.

The consumer goods and services sector’s trading volume plummeted 67% to 0.31mn shares, value by 32% to QR24.04mn and transactions by 40% to 323.

The real estate sector’s trading volume plunged 63% to 1.21mn shares, value by 66% to QR23.40mn and deals by 70% to 349.

The industrials sector’s trading volume tanked 45% to 0.62mn shares, value by 3% to QR60.52mn and transactions by 19% to 611.

The telecom sector’s trading volume declined 20% to 1.60mn shares, value by 34% to QR20.28mn and deals by 23% to 314.

However, the insurance sector’s trading volume more than doubled to 0.05mn shares and value more than tripled to QR2.54mn on more than doubled transactions to 37.

The transport sector’s trading volume more than doubled to 0.54mn shares and value more than tripled to QR29.16mn on more than doubled deals to 394.

The banks and financial services sector’s trading volume was up 1% to 1.61mn shares, while value fell 3% to QR76.05mn and transactions by 13% to 707.

Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Vodafone Qatar (1.55mn shares); UDC (802,141); Doha Bank (653,549); Commercial Bank (429,402) and Milaha (416,142).

In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills.