Day after crash, QSE bounces back

By Santhosh V. Perumal/Business ReporterQatar Stock Exchange on Monday bounced back with 99 points jump, a day after it crashed perceptibly on global energy worries, as domestic institutions continued to be net buyers but with lesser intensity.More than 69% of the stocks extended gains and more than QR4bn in capitalisation was added as the 20-stock Qatar Index gained 1.03% to 9,742.78 points.Insurance, transport, real estate and telecom stocks witnessed faster gains in the market, which is, however, down 20.7% year-to-date.Foreign institutions’ net buying interests also helped instill bullish momentum in the bourse, where volumes were on the rise.The index that tracks Shariah-principled stocks was seen gaining faster than the other indices in the market, where the banking, realty and industrials sectors dominated the trading ring as their stocks accounted for more than 78% of the volumes.Market capitalisation expanded 0.82% to QR515.1bn with micro, small, mid and large cap equities gaining 1.73%, 1.32%, 0.99% and 0.61% respectively.The Total Return Index rose 1.03% to 15,143.75 points, All Share Index by 1.02% to 2,602.15 points and Al Rayan Islamic Index by 1.07% to 3,577.48 points.Insurance stocks gained 2.38%, transport (1.99%), real estate (1.89%), telecom (1.46%), industrials (0.83%) and banks and financial services (0.51%); while consumer goods fell 0.15%.Major movers included Ezdan, Gulf International Services, Ooredoo, Vodafone Qatar, Gulf Warehousing, Nakilat, Qatar Insurance, Industries Qatar, Commercial Bank, al khaliji, Salam International Investment, Qatari German Company for Medical Devices and Qatari Investors Group; even as Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding and Milaha bucked the trend.Non-Qatari institutions turned net buyers to the tune of QR4.29mn against net sellers of QR14.45mn the previous day.However, non-Qatari individual investors turned net sellers to the extent of QR4.02mn against net buyers of QR3.06mn on December 13.Local retail investors’ net profit booking strengthened to QR10.61mn compared to QR6.62mn on Sunday.The GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) institutions’ net selling also rose to QR8.59mn against QR4.11mn the previous day.The GCC individual investors’ net profit booking increased to QR6.83mn compared to QR5.31mn on December 13.Domestic institutions’ net buying weakened to QR25.76mn against QR27.41mn on Sunday.Total trade volume was up 1% to 6.95mn shares and value by 14% to QR298.13mn, while deals were down 5% to 4,008.The transport sector’s trade volume more than doubled to 0.47mn equities and value also more than doubled to QR15.76mn on more than doubled transactions to 368.The insurance sector’s trade volume doubled to 0.06mn stocks, value soared 72% to QR3.7mn and deals by 50% to 66.The real estate sector saw 59% surge in trade volume to 1.61mn shares, 95% in value to QR39.63mn and 30% in transactions to 761.However, the telecom sector’s trade volume plummeted 38% to 0.72mn equities, value by 29% to QR14.36mn and deals by 13% to 558.The industrials sector saw 10% shrinkage in trade volume to 1.31mn stocks; even as there was 20% increase in value to QR102.26mn. Transactions shrank 43% to 726.The banks and financial services sector’s trade volume fell 9% to 2.51mn shares and value by 4% to QR111.15mn but deals were unchanged at 1,261.Although the consumer goods sector’s trade volume was flat at 0.26mn equities; there was 4% expansion in value to QR11.27mn and 6% in transactions to 268.In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and government bonds.