QE under bearish spell on higher sell pressure, lower buy support

By Santhosh V Perumal/Business ReporterHigher net selling pressure from domestic institutions and lower net buying support from local retail investors led the Qatar Exchange to remain under the bearish spell for the second day yesterday.Stronger selling was seen in at banking and real estate counters as the 20-stock Qatar Index (based on price index) settled 0.18% lower at 11,367.31 points.Micro-cap equities witnessed some buying interests in the market, where trading volumes fell further and overall it was skewed towards realty and banking sectors.The index that tracks Shariah-principled stocks was seen to gain, albeit at lower levels, on the bourse, which is up 9.52% year-to-date.The 20-stock Total Return Index was down 0.18% to 16,807.56 points and the All Share Index (with wider constituents) by 0.21% to 2,906.19; while the Al Rayan Islamic Index was up 0.12% to 3,485.84 points. All the three indices factored in dividend income as well.Banks and financial services stocks lost 0.69%, followed by real estate (0.27%) and transport (0.04%); while insurance gained 0.83%, followed by telecom (0.6%), consumer goods (0.11%) and industrials (0.08%).Major losers included QNB, Mazaya Qatar, Nakilat, United Development Company, Gulf International Services, Commercial Bank, Doha Bank, Widam Food and Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding Company.However, Industries Qatar, Ooredoo, Qatar Islamic Bank and Qatari Investors Group were seen to buck the trend.Market capitalisation fell 0.29%, or about QR2bn, to QR634.54bn.Domestic institutions’ net selling stood at QR31.22mn compared to QR35.46mn the previous day.Foreign institutions’ net selling was mere QR0.05mn against QR13.95mn on Wednesday.Qatari retail investors’ net buying stood at QR9.49mn compared to QR43.08mn the previous day.Non-Qatari individual investors’ net buying amounted to QR21.28mn against QR6.38mn on Wednesday.Total trading volume fell 30% to 10.25mn stocks, value by 25% to QR462.51mn and transactions by 27% to 6,649.The transport sector’s trading volume plummeted 65% to 0.39mn equities, value by 48% to QR15.92mn and deals by 46% to 286.The consumer goods sector saw its trading volume plunge 46% to 0.74mn shares, value by 9% to QR52.61mn and transactions by 14% to 671.The banks and financial services sector reported a 43% shrinkage in trading volume to 2.18mn stocks, 36% in value to QR147.76mn and 24% in deals to 1,785.The industrials sector’s trading volume tanked 41% to 1.87mn equities, value by 46% to QR102.56mn and transactions by 38% to 2,385.There was a 25% decline in insurance sector’s trading volume to 0.27mn shares, 23% in value to QR11.98mn and 19% in deals to 163.The real estate sector’s trading volume was down 3% to 4.47mn stocks but on a 30% jump in value to QR109.17mn and 2% in transactions to 1,206.However, the telecom sector’s trading volume surged 13% to 0.34mn equities and value more than doubled to QR22.5mn; while deals fell 20% to 153.In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and government bonds.