28/03/2015 06:08 AST
Bears continued to have their say in the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE), which settled 113 points lower during the week.
Selling pressure was seen intense in the transport, real estate, telecom and industrials counters during the week which saw Qatar Central Securities Depository announce that citizens of Gulf Cooperation Council will be treated as locals in terms of ownership in the listed companies in the QSE.
Lower buying support from local retail investors was largely seen responsible for an about 1% decline in the 20-stock Qatar Index during the week that witnessed Milaha launch its first direct container service between Qatar and India, a move that would considerably reduce transit time and costs.
The market treaded a flat course in the first two days but only to see huge gains on Tuesday to inch near the 11,700 mark. However, subsequent profit booking pressures drove the index down further and overall the index settled lower at 11,411 points during the week that saw Mannai Corporation sound optimistic on business prospects this year and beyond despite a lull in the global energy front.
Kuwait had plunged 3.31%, Saudi Arabia (2.95%), Dubai (1.91%), Muscat (1.72%) and Bahrain (1%); even as Abu Dhabi gained 0.82% during the week that featured the country's producer price index plunged 41.4% year-on-year in January 2015.
Qatari bourse has so far (year-to-date) reported 7.12% decline against Dubai’s 9.72% fall, Kuwait’s 4.79%, Muscat’s 3.63% and Abu Dhabi’s 3.44%; whereas Saudi Arabia and Bahrain reported 6.84% and 1.26% gains respectively.
Crude witnessed a volatile scenario as on Thursday it began ascending on concerns that fighting in the Arabian Peninsula between Saudi Arabia and Houthi rebels in Yemen could disrupt supplies.
The Qatari bourse’s overall bearish overhang came amidst weakened net selling pressure from foreign institutions during the week which saw Ezdan Holding announce that it is open to more mega investments this year.
Small and large cap stocks witnessed the maximum selling pressure during the week that witnessed banking, real estate and industrials stocks account for more than 76% of total trading volume.
The 20-stock Total Return Index shed 0.46%, All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) by 0.7% and Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.88% during the week that saw about 62% of the stocks being in the red.
Transport stocks plunged 2.31%, realty (2.15%), telecom (1.31%), industrials (1.17%) and consumer goods (0.44%); while insurance gained 1.18% and banks and financial services by 0.18% during the week.
Of the 43 stocks, only 15 gained, while 26 declined and one was unchanged. Another one was not traded. Six each of the 12 banks and financial services and the nine industrials, four each of the eight consumer goods and the four real estate, three of the five insurers, two of the three transport and one of the two telecom stocks close lower during the week.
Major losers included Industries Qatar, Commercial Bank, Dlala, Islamic Holding Group, Mannai Corporation, Aamal Company, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Barwa, Ezdan, Mazaya Qatar, United Development Company, Ooredoo, Nakilat, Milaha and Salam International Investment during the week.
For more on this
Click Here
Gulf Times
Please wait...
