Foreign institutions' net profit booking pressure on Monday further dragged the Qatar Stock Exchange 148 points to close beneath 8,300 levels and capitalisation erode QR10bn.
An across the board selling, particularly within telecom and industrials counters, led the 20-stock Qatar Index settle 1.76% lower at 8,282.66 points, reflecting the apprehensions over the prolonged shutdowns to mitigate the rising risks of global pandemic Covid-19.
The domestic institutions' increased net selling pressure also had its influence on the bourse, whose year-to-date losses swelled to 20.55%.
The Gulf equity markets is slated to remain volatile in the near term and the investors' preference will be for the defensive sectors with relatively inelastic demand for their products and services, combined with higher domestic revenue contribution, Kamco Invest had said in a report.
Market capitalisation saw 2.05% erosion to QR466.62bn mainly owing to large and midcap segments.
Islamic stocks were seen declining slower than the other indices on the market, where local and non-Qatari individual investors were increasingly bullish.
Trade turnover and volumes were on the increase on the bourse, where industrials, banking and realty sectors together accounted for about 78% of the total trading volume.
The Total Return Index shed 1.76% to 15,839.39 points, All Share Index by 1.76% to 2,576.89 points and Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) by 1.34% to 1,769.83 points.
The telecom index plummeted 4.71%, industrials (2.35%), consumer goods and services (1.75%), banks and financial services (1.6%), real estate (1.55%), insurance (0.84%) and transport (0.74%).
More than 76% of the traded constituents were in the red with major losers being Ooredoo, Industries Qatar, Aamal Company, Qatari Investors Group, Qatar Electricity and Water, Qatar Islamic Bank, QNB, Doha Bank, Qatar First Bank, Alijarah Holding, Ezdan, Mazaya Qatar, Barwa, Gulf Warehousing, Qatar German Company for Medical Devices, Salam International Investment, Medicare Group, Woqod and Widam Food; even as QIIB, Qatar Oman Investment, Vodafone Qatar and Doha Insurance were among the gainers.
Non-Qatari institutions turned net sellers to the tune of QR21.86mn compared with net buyers of QR6.44mn on March 29.
Domestic institutions' net profit booking increased noticeably to QR7.71mn against QR5.06mn the previous day.
The Gulf individual investors' net buying declined perceptibly to QR0.49mn compared to QR1.45mn on Sunday.
However, local retail investors' net buying shot up significantly to QR21.37mn against QR0.27mn on March 29.
Non-Qatari individual investors' net buying strengthened to QR6.44mn compared to QR2.44mn the previous day.
The Gulf institutions were net buyers to the extent of QR1.24mn against net sellers of QR5.54mn on Sunday.
Total trade volumes more than doubled to 122.53mn shares and value also more than doubled to QR374.28mn on more than doubled transactions to 11,070.
The insurance sector's trade volume grew more than eight-fold to 3.08mn equities and value also more than seven-fold to QR5.84mn on more than six-fold growth in deals 334.
The industrials sector's trade volume more than tripled to 40.4mn stocks and value almost quadrupled to QR61.64mn on almost tripled transactions to 2,162.
The banks and financial services sector's trade volume almost tripled to 33.68 shares and value more than tripled to QR193.5mn on more than doubled deals to 4,228.
The consumer goods and services sector's trade volume almost doubled to 9.08mn equities and value more than doubled to QR32.5mn on more than tripled transactions to 1,165.
The telecom sector's trade volume soared 84% to 9.48mn stocks and value almost doubled to QR36.44mn on more than doubled deals to 1,850.
There was 48% surge in the real estate sector's trade volume to 21mn shares and 79% in value to QR31.56mn on more than doubled transactions to 977.
The transport sector's trade volume expanded 21% to 5.83mn equities and value by less than 1% to QR12.8mn on almost tripled deals to 354.
In the debt market, there was no trading of sovereign bonds and treasury bills.
