Qatar Stock Exchange gained for the second day on Wednesday to surpass the 10,200 levels, mainly on buying support in telecom, real estate and industrials segments.
Increased buying support from foreign institutions and bullish outlook of their domestic counterparts lifted the 20-stock Qatar Index by 0.47% to 10,205.61 points.
The market was largely on a buying spree in the first 30 minutes, after which it was on a downswing for the next 15 minutes to touch a low of near 10,120 points. Thereafter, a sustained buying interest drove the index up for the remainder of the session, thus settling the index 48 points higher against the previous close.
Buying was seen stronger especially within large cap segments in the bourse, whose year-to-date losses were contained at 2.21%.
Islamic stocks however were seen declining vis-à-vis gains in the main index as well as other indices in the market, where non-Qatari individual investors were net buyers, while local and Gulf retail investors as well as Gulf institutions turned bearish.
Trade turnover and volumes declined in the bourse, where banking, telecom and realty sectors together accounted for about 80% of the total volumes.
Market capitalisation expanded about QR3bn or 0.48% to QR549.93bn as large and midcap stocks gained 0.58% and 0.06%; while small and microcaps declined 1.59% and 0.02% respectively.
The Total Return Index rose 0.47% to 17,114.2 points and All Share Index by 0.35% to 2,905.06 points, while Al Rayan Islamic Index was down 0.02% to 4,091.58 points.
The telecom sector’s index gained 0.69%, real estate (0.58%), industrials (0.55%), banks and financial services (0.45%) and insurance (0.24%); whereas consumer goods and transport fell 1.22% and 0.21% respectively.
More than 56% of the stocks extended gains with major movers being Industries Qatar, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Ooredoo, QIIB, Qatar First Bank, QNB, Qatar Islamic Bank, Commercial Bank, Doha Bank, Qatar Insurance, Qatar Islamic Insurance, United Development Company, Barwa, Ezdan and Dlala.
Nevertheless, Gulf Warehousing, Masraf Al Rayan, Mazaya Qatar, Vodafone Qatar, Medicare Group, Zad Holding, Qatari Investors Group and Al Khaleej Takaful were among the losers.
Non-Qatari institutions’ net buying strengthened considerably to QR38.45mn compared to QR8.76mn the previous day.
Domestic institutions turned net buyers to the tune of QR2.54mn against net profit takers of QR25.48mn on April 25.
Non-Qatari retail investors were also net buyers to the extent of QR1.98mn compared with net sellers of QR2.93mn on Tuesday.
However, local retail investors turned net sellers to the tune of QR28.98mn against net buyers of QR15.11mn the previous day.
The GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) funds were net sellers to the extent of QR10.92mn compared with net buyers of QR0.98mn on April 25.
The GCC individual investors turned net profit takers to the tune of QR3.05mn against net buyers of QR4.07mn on Tuesday.
Total trade volumes fell 23% to 8.88mn shares and value by 14% to QR232.75mn, while deals grew 6% to 3,575.
There was 51% plunge in the telecom sector’s trade volume to 2.22mn equities, 34% in value to QR35.78mn and 14% in transactions to 338.
The real estate sector’s trade volume plummeted 50% to 1.53mn stocks, value by 50% to QR30.71mn and deals by 28% to 432.
The market witnessed 10% fall in the consumer goods sector’s trade volume to 0.26mm shares but on 26% increase in value to QR19.06mn and 12% in transactions to 328.
However, the insurance sector’s trade volume tripled to 0.12mn equities and value more than doubled to QR8.11mn on more than quadrupled deals to 171.
The transport sector’s trade volume more than doubled to 0.84mn stocks and value soared 48% to QR19.52mn, whereas transactions were down 4% to 256.
The banks and financial services sector saw 22% surge in trade volume to 3.34mn shares but on 9% decline in value to QR87.68mn despite 5% higher deals to 1,101.
The industrials sector’s trade volume shot up 18% to 0.58mn equities, value by 16% to QR31.89mn and transactions by 28% to 949.
In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and government bonds.
Qatar Index closed at 10,205.61 points on Wednesday.
