Local and Gulf retail investors were yesterday bullish on the Qatar Stock Exchange, which otherwise fell about 41 points; reflecting the concerns over re-imposing restrictions to combat the spread of Covid-19.
The bullish outlook of the Gulf institutions notwithstanding, the 20-stock Qatar Index settled 0.39% lower at 10,431.36 points, having touched an intraday high of 10,526 points.
The telecom, industrials and consumer goods counters witnessed higher than average selling pressure in the market, which reported year-to-date losses of 0.04%.
About 69% of the traded constituents were in the red on the bourse, whose capitalisation saw more than QR3bn or 0.51% decline to QR603.55bn, mainly owing to midcap segments.
The Islamic index was seen declining slower than the other indices on the bourse, which saw increased net selling by foreign funds and the domestic institutions turn bearish.
Trade turnover shrank amidst higher volumes on the market, where the banking sector alone accounted for about 45% of the trading volume.
A total of 107,503 exchange traded funds (Masraf Al Rayan sponsored QATR) valued at QR255,839 changed hands across 15 deals; while in the debt market, there was no trading of sovereign bonds and treasury bills.
The Total Return Index fell 0.39% to 20,126.34 points, All Share Index by 0.39% to 3,211.3 points and Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) by 0.23% to 2,386.12 points.
The telecom sector index tanked 1.54%, industrials (0.91%), consumer goods and services (0.83%), insurance (0.34%) and banks and financial services (0.25%); whereas realty and transport gained 0.6% and 0.55% respectively.
Major shakers included Industries Qatar, Ooredoo, QLM, Qatari German Medical Devices, Qatar Industrial Manufacturing, Gulf Warehousing, Zad Holding, Mannai Corporation, Al Meera and Commercial Bank; even as Qatar First Bank, Qatar Islamic Insurance, United Development Company, Nakilat and QIIB were among the gainers.
The foreign institutions’ net selling increased noticeably to QR19.98mn compared to QR16.96mn on February 3.
The Arab individuals turned net sellers to the tune of QR1.77mn against net buyers of QR9.26mn on Wednesday.
The domestic funds were also net sellers to the extent of QR1.26mn compared with net buyers of QR26.18mn the previous day.
The Arab institutions’ net buying weakened marginally to QR0.9mn against QR0.14mn on February 3.
However, local retail investors turned net buyers to the tune of QR21.12mn compared with net sellers of QR9.4mn on Wednesday.
The Gulf individuals were net buyers to the extent of QR1.41mn against net sellers of QR0.51mn the previous day.
The Gulf institutions turned net buyers to the tune of QR0.86mn compared with net sellers of QR7.28mn on February 3.
The foreign individuals’ net profit booking eased perceptibly to QR0.51mn against QR1.38mn on Wednesday.
Total trade volume rose 3% to 161.03mn shares, while value fell 15% to QR392.56mn and transactions by 2% to 8,710.
The consumer goods and services sector’s trade volume almost tripled to 25.92mn equities and value more than doubled to QR63.71mn on 53% growth in deals to 1,184.
The banks and financial services sector saw 77% surge in trade volume to 72.17mn stocks and 6% in value to QR212.27mn but on 12% decline in transactions to 2,987.
The realty sector’s trade volume soared 22% to 22.44mn shares and value by 20% to QR37.86mn on more than doubled deals to 1,558.
However, there was 67% plunge in the telecom sector’s trade volume to 7.5mn equities, 66% in value to QR17.99mn and 44% in transactions to 697.
The insurance sector’s trade volume plummeted 55% to 2.53mn stocks and value by 63% to QR6.44mn; whereas deals jumped 20% to 384.
The industrials sector reported 50% shrinkage in trade volume to 25.97mn shares, value by 61% to QR36.86mn and transactions by 20% to 1,295.
The transport sector’s trade volume shrank 43% to 4.51mn equities, value by 51% to QR17.43mn and deals by 29% to 605.