QSE snaps 5-day winning streak to settle below the 13,500 mark

By Santhosh V Perumal/Business Reporter

Snapping five days of a bullish run, the Qatar Stock Exchange yesterday witnessed corrections, especially in the real estate stocks, to settle below the 13,500 mark.

Domestic institutions were rather instrumental in dragging the 20-stock Qatar Index (based on price data) by 0.43% to 13,486.13 points.

Mid and small caps largely came under selling pressure in the market, which is, however, up 29.93% year-to-date.

The index that tracks Shariah-principled stock was seen melting faster than the other indices in the bourse, where trading volume was largely skewed towards realty, banking and telecom stocks.

The Total Return Index was down 0.43% to 20,114.43 points, the All Share Index by 0.33% to 3,412.27 points and the Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.91% to 4,506.95 points.

Market capitalisation was down 0.1%, or QR73mn, to QR729.8bn with mid, small and micro cap equities falling 0.88%, 0.3% and 0.11% respectively, but large caps were up 0.06%.

Realty stocks plunged 1.8%, followed by insurance (0.71%), industrials (0.3%) and consumer goods (0.16%); even as transport gained 0.3%, banks and financial services (0.1%) and telecom (0.06%).

Major losers included United Development Company, Al Khaleej Takaful, Qatari Investors Group, Dlala, Masraf Al Rayan, Doha Bank, Barwa, Nakilat and Industries Qatar.

However, QNB, Gulf Warehousing, Mazaya Qatar, Gulf International Services, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding and Vodafone Qatar bucked the trend.

United Development Company and Ezdan continued to be the most active in terms of volume and value.

Qatari retail investors’ net profit-booking rose to QR52.21mn compared to QR47.07mn on October 26.

Non-Qatari individual investors turned net sellers to the tune of QR2.64mn against net buyers of QR8.46mn on Sunday.

Domestic institutions turned net profit-takers to the extent of QR33.21mn compared with net buyers of QR10.66mn the previous day.

However, foreign institutions’ net buying surged to QR88.06mn against QR27.9mn on Sunday.

Total trade volume rose 25% to 14.83mn shares, value by 34% to QR614.95mn and transactions by 11% to 5,764.

The telecom sector’s trade volume grew almost five-fold to 1.36mn equities and value more than tripled to QR33.54mn on a 31% jump in deals to 314.

The banks and financial services sector’s trade volume more than doubled to 3.41mn stocks and value also more than doubled to QR237.33mn on a 47% expansion in transactions to 1,908.

The insurance sector saw its trade volume soar 36% to 0.15mn shares, value by 13% to QR9.18mn and deals by 25% to 147.

The market witnessed a 16% surge in the real estate sector’s trade volume to 7.8mn equities, 15% in value to QR196.49mn and 23% in transactions to 1,725.

However, the transport sector’s trade volume plummeted 59% to 0.37mn stocks, value by 28% to QR17.81mn and deals by 46% to 216.

The consumer goods sector saw its trade volume plunge 26% to 0.91mn shares, value by 7% to QR40.54mn and transactions by 9% to 476.

There was 7% decline in the industrials sector’s trade volume to 0.83mn equities; 7% in value to QR80.07mn and 18% in deals to 978.

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

Qatar bourse  looks to enhance appeal at global meet in Seoul

The Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) will hold a series of meetings with several Arab and international bourses as part of its broader strategy to enhance its appeal in the world market.

QSE chief executive Rashid bin Ali al-Mansoori is expected to hold a series of bilateral and multilateral meetings on the sidelines of 2014 annual meeting of the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE), which is being held in South Korea. l-Mansoori, who has already reached the South Korean capital of Seoul, will also be taking part in discussions where he will speak on several issues concerning exchanges and investors.

The WFE, which was established in 1961, now has 60 bourses as members and its headquarters was recently moved from France to Britain.

Qatar became a full member of the WFE in 2013. The full membership is considered a new step in the context of integration with the global financial markets and stock exchanges and will attract more foreign investments.

The WFE membership is an important reference for many international investors about the investment atmosphere in the member markets because the membership reflects the member exchanges’ commitment to implement the best international practices and standards.