Increased buying interests from foreign funds and local retail investors on Monday drove the Qatar Stock Exchange up to surpass 8,900 levels.
Five of the seven sectors, especially the banking counter, witnessed strong gains as the 20-stock Qatar Index settled 0.98% higher at 8,943.75 points.
Doha Bank-sponsored exchange traded fund QETF gained 0.35%; while Masraf Al Rayan-sponsored QATR reported 1.92% decline.
However, domestic and Gulf institutions were increasingly profit-takers in the market, which is up 4.93% year-to-date.
Buying was seen more pronounced within large-cap segments in the bourse, whose capitalisation expanded 1.3% to QR495.89bn.
Trade turnover and volumes were on the rise in the market, where the banking and telecom sectors together accounted for more than 58% of the total volume.
The Total Return Index rose 0.98% to 15,757.89 points, the All Share Index by 1.09% to 2,622.75 points and the Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) by 0.19% to 2,181.53 points.
The banks and financial services index soared 2.25%, followed by industrials (0.41%), telecom (0.32%), transport (0.19%) and realty (0.1%), while consumer goods and insurance declined 0.43% and 0.28% respectively.
Major gainers included QNB, Qatar Islamic Bank, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Qatari Investors Group, Vodafone Qatar, Industries Qatar, Ezdan, Medicare Group and Qatari German Company for Medical Devices; whereas Mazaya Qatar, United Development Company, Widam Food, Ooredoo, Ahlibank, Qatar First Bank, Qatar Oman Investment and Islamic Holding Group were among the losers.
Non-Qatari institutions’ net buying increased substantially to QR83.08mn compared to QR17.39mn on May 20.
Local individual investors’ net buying also grew perceptibly to QR12.07mn against QR5.12mn the previous day.
However, domestic funds’ net profit-booking grew considerably to QR72.81mn compared to QR17.02mn on Sunday.
Gulf institutions’ net selling also expanded influentially to QR23.79mn against QR7.76mn on May 20.
Gulf individuals turned net sellers to the tune of QR0.31mn compared with net buyers of QR0.24mn the previous day.
Non-Qatari individual investors’ net buying weakened marginally to QR1.8mn against QR2.02mn on Sunday.
Total trade volume grew 34% to 10.38mn shares, value more than doubled to QR390.59mn and transactions also more than doubled to 5,834.
The transport sector’s trade volume almost tripled to 1.02mn equities and value almost doubled to QR16.47mn on more-than-tripled deals to 562.
The banks and financial services sector’s trade volume more than doubled to 3.6mn stocks and value more than tripled to QR248.79mn on more-than-tripled transactions to 2,730.
The real estate sector reported a 71% surge in trade volume to 1.32mn shares, 59% in value to QR11.61mn and 56% in deals to 506.
The consumer goods sector’s trade volume soared 68% to 0.42mn equities to more than double value to QR24.11mn on more-than-doubled transactions to 478.
The telecom sector saw a 67% expansion in trade volume to 2.46mn stocks, 87% in value to QR29.03mn and 78% in deals to 461.
However, the industrials sector’s trade volume plummeted 52% to 1.43mn shares and value by 9% to QR56.25mn as transactions grew 36% to 962.
There was a 48% plunge in the insurance sector’s trade volume to 0.13mn equities and 50% in value to QR4.33mn but on a 71% growth in deals to 135.
In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and sovereign bonds.
Related Story