By Santhosh V. Perumal/Business Reporter

Retail investors’ strong buying interests propped up Qatar Stock Exchange, which gained 269 points to cross the 10,100 mark with ease, in the wake of new margin trading mechanism that is being introduced.

More than 95% of the stocks extended gains and capitalisation saw an increase of about QR13bn as the 20-stock Qatar Index surged 2.71% to 10,174.8 points.

An across the board buying – particularly in the telecom and real estate sectors – was seen in the market, which is, however, down 17.18% year-to-date.

“The (current) valuations have turned attractive to go in for select stocks,” market sources said.

Earlier an analyst said that a more than 26% reduction in oil price assumption has led to only a smaller 7% fall in the governmental expenditure itself is a positive for the economy.

Increased buying support of Gulf institutions also helped the bourse, where overall volumes more than doubled.

Domestic institutions were seen bearish and there was increased net selling by their foreign counterparts in the market, where the realty, banking and telecom sectors dominated the trading ring as their stocks accounted for about 66% of the volumes.

Market capitalisation expanded 2.43% to QR538.19bn with micro, small, large and mid cap equities gaining 3.5%, 2.47%, 2.32% and 2.19% respectively.

The Total Return Index shot up 2.71% to 15,815.26 points, All Share Index by 2.58% to 2,715.79 points and Al Rayan Islamic Index by 3.4% to 3,790.63 points.

Telecom stocks appreciated 5.37%, real estate (3.7%), consumer goods (2.58%), industrials (2.51%), banks and financial services (2.28%), insurance (2.1%) and transport (0.69%).

Major gainers included Industries Qatar, Vodafone Qatar, Mazaya Qatar, Ezdan, Masraf Al Rayan, Qatar Insurance, al khaliji, Alijarah Holding, Gulf International Services, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Aamal Company, Ooredoo, Nakilat, Qatari German Company for Medical Devices and Salam International Investment; even as Milaha bucked the trend.

Local retail investors turned net buyers to the tune of QR9.35mn compared with net sellers of QR26.55mn the previous day.

The GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) individual investors’ net buying strengthened to QR6.41mn against a mere QR0.35mn on December 21.

Non-Qatari individual investors’ net buying also increased to QR9.73mn compared to QR1.89mn on Monday.

The GCC institutions’ net buying strengthened to QR15.96mn against QR11.08mn the previous day.

However, domestic institutions turned net sellers to the extent of QR14.2mn compared with net buyers of QR17.89mn on December 21.

Non-Qatari institutions’ net profit booking increased substantially to QR27.25mn against QR4.66mn on Monday.

Total trade volume more than doubled to 11.21mn shares, value soared 69% to QR346.23mn and deals by 60% to 5,183.

The telecom sector’s trade volume more than quadrupled to 2.07mn equities and value more than doubled to QR30.94mn on 41% jump in transactions to 707.

The real estate sector’s trade volume more than quadrupled to 3.01mn stocks and value also almost quadrupled to QR59.06mn on almost doubled deals to 971.

The insurance sector’s trade volume quadrupled to 0.16mn shares and value grew almost five-fold to QR11.85mn but on 14% fall in transactions to 71.

The consumer goods sector’s trade volume more than tripled to 1.57mn equities and value more than doubled to QR32.44mn on more than doubled deals to 700.

The transport sector’s trade volume almost tripled to 0.52mn stocks and value more than tripled to QR15.3mn on 89% expansion in transactions to 257.

The industrials sector saw 63% surge in trade volume to 1.6mn shares, 46% in value to QR83.04mn and 52% in deals to 1,116.

The banks and financial services sector’s trade volume was up 9% to 2.28mn equities, value by 13% to QR113.6mn and transactions by 38% to 1,361.

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

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