QSE sheds 147 points on stronger profit booking

 By Santhosh V Perumal/Business Reporter

The Qatar Stock Exchange continued to witness stronger profit booking for the fifth straight session and its key index settled below the 11,700 mark, trimming 147 points.

An across the board profit booking — particularly in the real estate, telecom, transport and consumer goods sectors — dragged the 20-stock Qatar Index (based on price data) 1.24% to 11,669.43 points.

Continued net selling pressure from foreign retail and institutional investors led to an overall build up of bearish pressure in the market, which is down 12.43% year-to-date.

The index that tracks Shariah-principled stocks was seen melting much faster than the other indices in the market, where trading volume was marginally on the rise.

Market capitalisation eroded 1.06% to QR636.95bn. Micro, small, mid and large cap equities fell 2.52%, 1.86%, 1.82% and 0.5% respectively.

The 20-stock Total Return Index shrank 1.24% to 17,404.84 points, All Share Index (with wider constituents) by 1.15% to 2,979.25 and Al Rayan Islamic Index by 2.83% to 3,828.37. All the three indices factored in dividend income as well.

Realty stocks plummeted 4.07%, telecom (2.92%), transport (2.05%), consumer goods (1.95%), industrials (0.98%), banks and financial services (0.39%) and insurance (0.23%).

Non-Qatari individual investors’ net selling rose to QR23.33mn against QR20.41mn the previous trading day.

Foreign institutions’ net selling sunk to QR43.13mn compared to QR86.69mn last Thursday.

Local retail investors’ net buying fell to QR33.28mn against QR49.59mn the previous trading day.

Domestic institutions’ net buying shrank to QR33.24mn compared to QR57.51mn last Thursday.

About 84% of the stocks were in the red with major losers being Industries Qatar, Vodafone Qatar, Barwa, Mazaya Qatar, Ezdan, Dlala, United Development Company, Ooredoo, Nakilat, Qatar General and Reinsurance, Salam International Investment and Widam Food.

However, QNB, Doha Bank and Qatar Insurance Company were seen to buck the trend.

Vodafone Qatar and Masraf Al Rayan were the most active in terms of both volume and value respectively.

Total trading volume rose 7% to 10.57mn stocks, while value fell 22% to QR414.44mn and transactions by 11% to 5,569. The telecom sector’s trading volume almost tripled to 3.01mn equities, value shot up 84% to QR58.16mn and deals by 67% to 771.

The transport sector’s trading volume soared 51% to 0.53mn shares, value more than doubled to QR21.2mn and transactions were up 8% to 269.

The real estate sector’s trading volume rose 7% to 2.32mn stocks but value was down 2% to QR51.18mn. Deals gained 1% to 968.

However, the banks and financial services sector reported 30% plunge in trading volume to 2.59mn equities, 41% in value to QR150.82mn and 21% in transactions to 1,904.

The industrials sector’s trading volume plummeted 25% to 1.07mn shares, value by 34% to QR73.43mn and deals by 26% to 1,091.

There was a 16% slippage in the insurance sector’s trading volume to 0.32mn stocks, 8% in value to QR15.51mn and 8% in transactions to 141.

The consumer goods sector saw its trading volume decline 8% to 0.74mn equities, value by 6% to QR36.14mn and deals by 21% to 425.

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

Gulf markets slip as volumes drop with Ramadan

Most bourses in the Gulf declined yesterday as many retail investors withdrew from the markets with the beginning of Ramadan and trading volumes plunged.

Dubai was the biggest loser, sliding 2.4% as daily trading volume shrank 59%.

Shares in builder Arabtec, which again topped daily turnover, dropped 6.5%, extending their loss this month to 57%.

Investors are concerned about Arabtec’s ability to carry out its ambitious expansion plans following a sudden management change, as well as the fate of former chief executive Hasan Ismaik’s 28.85% stake in the company. Major shareholder Aabar has not clarified its intentions towards the company.

The second-biggest loser among those stocks is Dubai Financial Market (DFM), the emirate’s bourse operator. DFM jumped 78% between the end of last year and its June 1 peak, but has dropped 32% this month.

Abu Dhabi’s bourse declined 0.4% yesterday. Shares in investment firm Waha Capital went up as much as 1.0% after the company said it was part of a consortium that took over Dubai’s National Petroleum Services, but then fell to close down 2.0%.

In Egypt, shares in investment bank EFG Hermes hit a three-year intra-day high of 15.60 pounds after its financial adviser valued the firm at 22.93 pounds. But the stock then slipped and closed at 15.36 pounds, down 0.5%, while the Cairo index fell 0.3%.

Kuwait’s general index was almost flat while trading volume dropped 42%, as the market largely ignored Thursday’s by-election to replace five parliament members who had quit over a row about questioning the prime minister.

Elsewhere, the Saudi index edged down 0.6% to 9,514 points, the Kuwait index slipped 0.02% to 6,980 points, the Bahrain index retreated 0.3% to 1,427 points and the Oman index rose 0.2% to 6,956 points.