QSE crosses above 10,400 as oil prices rebound

Qatar Stock Exchange on Tuesday crossed the 10,400 resistance level mainly on buying support from local and non-Qatari retail investors.
Insurance, real estate and consumer goods lifted the 20-stock Qatar Index 0.48% or 50 points to 10,418.23 points, reflecting the strong rebound in the oil prices, which breached the $40 a barrel.
Weak selling by Gulf individual investors also helped the bourse, which is down 0.11% year-to-date.
However, domestic institutions turned bearish and there was increased net selling by Gulf institutions in the market, where trading turnover and volumes were on the decline.
The index that tracks Shariah-principled stocks was seen gaining slower than the other indices in the market, where banking, industrials, consumer goods and realty stocks together accounted for about 86% of the total trading volume.
Market capitalisation was up 0.09% or QR47mn to QR547.64bn with large and micro cap equities gaining 0.28% and 0.07%; while mid and small caps shrank 0.86% and 0.16% respectively.
The Total Return Index gained 0.68% to 16,544.67 points, All Share Index by 0.53% to 2,814.91 points and Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.42% to 3,890.56 points.
Insurance stocks appreciated 3.79%, real estate (1.06%), consumer goods (0.87%), banks and financial services (0.4%) and telecom (0.39%); whereas industrials and transport fell 0.41% and 0.16% respectively.
About 53% of the stocks extended gains with major movers being Qatar Insurance, Ezdan, Qatar Islamic Bank, Masraf Al Rayan, Islamic Holding Group and Ooredoo; even as QNB, Doha Bank, Woqod, Qatar National Cement, Aamal Company, Barwa and Dlala bucked the trend.
Local retail investors turned net buyers to the tune of QR26.31mn compared with sellers of QR29.44mn the previous day.
Non-Qatari individual investors were also net buyers to the extent of QR12.54mn against net sellers of QR18.08mn on March 7.
The GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) individuals’ net selling weakened to QR0.18mn compared to QR4.96mn on Monday.
However, domestic institutions turned net sellers to the tune of QR47.6mn against net buyers of QR4.69mn the previous day.
Non-Qatari institutions’ net buying plummeted to QR34.1mn compared to QR56.34mn on March 7.
The GCC institutions’ net profit booking increased to QR25.08mn against QR8.55mn on Monday.
Total trade volume fell 48% to 12.13mn shares, value by 30% to QR455.93mn and deals by 32% to 6,219.
There was 74% plunge in the real estate sector’s trade volume to 1.52mn equities, 65% in value to QR41.86mn and 69% in transactions to 565.
The telecom sector’s trade volume plummeted 66% to 1.13mn stocks, value by 60% to QR23.05mn and deals by 55% to 620.
The insurance sector reported 56% shrinkage in trade volume to 0.08mn shares, 58% in value to QR5.17mn and 45% in transactions to 108.
The consumer goods sector’s trade volume tanked 47% to 1.8mn equities but value gained 21% to QR55.02mn and deals by 29% to 919.
The transport sector saw 43% decline in trade volume to 0.5mn stocks, 29% in value to QR15.68mn and 31% in transactions to 180.
The industrials sector’s trade volume shrank 31% to 3.28mn shares, value by 31% to QR141.7mn and deals by 28% to 1,557.
The banks and financial services sector witnessed 24% fall in trade volume to 3.81mn equities, 9% in value to QR173.44mn and 14% in transactions to 2,270.
In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and government bonds.