Profit booking extends bear run on QE

Local retail investors’ profit booking yesterday extended the bearish spell on the Qatar Exchange for the fourth day.

Small and mid cap equities, particularly came under selling pressure, as the QE Index (based on price data) fell 0.06% to 8,226.83 points. The market is down 6.29% year-to-date.

All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) and Total Return Index also shrank 0.06% each to 1,984.65 and 11,133.87 points. Both the indices factored in dividend income as well.

Major losers included Industries Qatar, Qatari Investors Group, United Development Company (UDC), Barwa, Mazaya Qatar and Vodafone Qatar; even as Mawashi and Gulf Warehousing bucked the trend.

Under the All Share Index category, the real estate index tanked 0.82%, industrials and telecom (0.26% each) and transport (0.10%); while that of consumer goods gained 0.42%, banks and financial services (0.12%) and insurance (0.04%).

Market capitalisation was down 0.14% or QR65mn to QR451.22bn with small and mid cap equities losing 0.49% and 0.10%; while micro and large caps gained 0.64% and 0.02% respectively.

Of the 42 stocks, only 11 advanced, while 22 declined, four were unchanged and five were not traded.

Foreign institutions continued to be profit takers but with lesser intensity as their net selling fell to 7.79% from 16.42% the previous day. Their net selling was QR13.89mn.

A lower 9.64% of them were into buying against 16.83% on Wednesday and a much lower 17.43% of them into selling compared to 33.25%.

Domestic institutions’ bullish grip slackened as their net buying sunk to 5.69% from 11.62% the previous day. Their net buying was QR10.15mn.

A lower 16.74% of them bought equities compared to 20.90% on Wednesday whereas a higher 11.05% offloaded against 9.28%.

Qatari individual investors turned bearish in that they were net sellers to the tune of 0.54%. They previous day the were net buyers by 2.11%. Their net selling amounted to QR0.96mn.

A higher 53.40% of them purchased equities compared to 43.59% on Wednesday and a much higher 53.94% sold against 41.48%.

Non-Qatari retail investors’ bullish grip marginally eased as their net buying fell to 2.63% from 2.69% the previous day. Their net buying was QR4.69mn.

A higher 20.21% of them were into buying against 18.68% on Wednesday and a higher 17.58% were into offloading against 15.99%.

Total trading volume rose 38% to 5.55mn equities, value by 17% to QR178.35mn and deals by 29% to 3,198.

The consumer goods and services sector’s trading volume more than doubled to 1.73mn shares and value also more than doubled to QR74.93mn on more than doubled transactions to 1,272.

The real estate sector’s trading volume surged 82% to 1.64mn shares, value by 80% to QR27.23mn and deals by 77% to 522.

The industrials sector’s trading volume soared 64% to 0.54mn shares, value by 10% to QR28.52mn and transactions by 9% to 393.

The transport sector’s trading volume was up 8% to 0.57mn shares, value by 25% to QR17.40mn and deals by 37% to 394.

However, the banks and financial services sector’s trading volume plummeted 38% to 0.83mn shares, value by 56% to QR26.59mn and transactions by 41% to 516.

The insurance sector’s trading volume plunged 30% to 0.02mn shares, value by 30% to QR1mn and deals by 38% to 21.

The telecom sector’s trading volume tanked 30% to 0.21mn shares, value by 43% to QR2.67mn and transactions by 40% to 80.

Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Mawashi (924,431 shares); Mazaya Qatar (838,000); UDC (502,838); Masraf Al Rayan (460,287) and Qatari German Company for Medical Devices (443,935).

In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills.