Qatar’s bourse yesterday snapped a four-day rally as its key index fell 0.18% as local institutions booked profit.
The 20-stock benchmark Qatar Share Index shed 10 points to close at 5,426.04, paced by Industries Qatar, Commercialbank, Doha Bank and Woqod.
Qatari retail investors showed lesser appetite for equity buying whereas foreign retail investors turned bearish. But foreign institutions were bullish at the Doha Securities Market, which is down 21.20% year-to-date.
Industrial stocks fell 1.03% and banks and financial institution dropped 0.09%, while the indices of insurance and services gained 0.77% and 0.2% respectively.
Market capitalisation was up 0.43% or QR1bn to QR234.75bn as small cap stocks gained 1.4%, followed by large cap (0.66%), mid cap (0.36%) and micro cap (0.12%).
Local institutional investors’ profit-booking became intense as their net selling (in terms of value) rose to 2.71% from 2.39% in the previous day.
A higher 12.39% of them were into buying yesterday compared with 11.69% on Monday and a higher 15.10% into selling against 14.08%.
Foreign institutions turned bullish as they were net buyers to the extent of 1.41% compared with net sellers of 1.44% in the previous day.
A higher 9.75% of them bought equities against 7.04% on Monday, while a marginally lower 8.34% sold compared with 8.48%.
Qatari retail investors’ bullish grip slackened as their net buying fell to 2.39% from 3.39% in the previous day.
A lower 53.60% of them were into buying compared with 54.82% on Monday and a marginally lower 51.21% into selling against 51.43%.
Non-Qatari retail investors turned profit takers as they were net sellers to the tune of 1.1% compared with net buyers of 0.43% in the previous day.
A lower 24.26% of them picked up equities against 26.44% on Monday and a lower 25.36% offloaded compared with 26.01%.
Total trading volume shrank 24% to 11.86mn shares, value by 16% to QR0.26bn and deals by 18% to 6,334.
Industries’ trading volume plummeted 33% to 1.61mn shares, value by 28% to QR41.82mn and transactions by 26% to 971.
Services’ trading volume plunged 29% to 7.15mn shares, value by 21% to QR153.79mn and deals by 25% to 3,591.
Insurance’s trading volume sunk 28% to 0.23mn shares, value by 28% to QR8.97mn and transactions by 16% to 261.
Lenders’ trading volume, however, gained 6% to 2.87mn shares, value by 28% to QR57.84mn and deals by 15% to 1,511.
Top five volume stocks were Barwa (2.46mn shares); Nakilat (1.34mn); Alkhaliji (1.32mn); Qatar Real Estate Investment (1.18mn) and Gulf Holding (1.16mn).
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