Qatar bourse closes flat despite buying interests in realty stocks

The Qatar Exchange largely remained flat yesterday despite some buying interests in the realty stocks.

Although local retail investors exerted some buying pressure, the QE Index (based on price data) fell by a marginal 0.02% to 8,473.05 points.

The market is down 3.49% year-to-date.

The All Share Index (comprising wider constituents), however, rose 0.01% to 2,039.71 points while the Total Return Index was down 0.02% to 11,467.10 points respectively.

Both the indices factored in dividend income as well.

About 52% of the stocks were in the red with major losers being Commercialbank, al khaliji, Aamal Company and Qatar Telecom; even as Qatari Investors Group, Barwa, Mazaya Qatar, United Development Company and Nakilat bucked the trend.

Under the All Share Index category, the real estate index gained 0.73%, followed by industrials (0.13%), consumer goods (0.13%) and transport (0.09%); while the indices of telecom, banks and financial services and insurance fell 0.60%, 0.10%, 0.07% respectively.

Market capitalisation rose 0.04% or QR16mn to QR454.22bn with micro and small caps gaining 0.37% and 0.03%; whereas mid and large caps fell 0.12% and 0.04% respectively.

Of the 42 stocks, 22 gained, while only 15 declined, two were unchanged and three were not traded.

Qatari individual investors turned bullish as they were net buyers to the tune of 7.47% against net sellers of 6.75% the previous day.

A higher 50.41% of them purchased equities compared to 48.30% on Tuesday whereas much lower 42.94% sold against 55.05%.

However, non-Qatari retail investors turned profit-takers as they were net sellers to the extent of 4.48% compared with net buyers of 2.53% the previous day.

A marginally higher 21.56% of them were into buying compared to 20.09% on Tuesday and a higher 26.04% were into offloading against 17.56%.

Domestic institutions continued to be bullish, but with lesser intensity, as their net buying sunk to 1.77% from 4.08% the previous day.

A much lower 14.28% of them bought equities compared to 24.57% on Tuesday and lower 12.51% offloaded against 20.49%.

Foreign institutions turned bearish as they were net sellers to the tune of 4.76% compared with net buyers of 0.15% the previous day.

A higher 13.75% of them were into buying against 7.04% on Tuesday and a higher 18.51% of them into selling compared to 6.89%.

Total trading volume fell 25% to 10.18mn equities, value by 32% to QR202.57mn and deals by 17% to 3,570.

The industrials sector’s trading volume plummeted 64% to 1.73mn shares, value by 55% to QR58.45mn and transactions by 44% to 775.

The consumer goods and services sector’s trading volume plunged 62% to 1.17mn shares, value by 62% to QR20.97mn and deals by 46% to 455.

The banks and financial services sector’s trading volume tanked 55% to 0.98mn shares, value by 38% to QR35.94mn and transactions by 14% to 743.

The transport sector’s trading volume declined 39% to 0.34mn shares, value by 32% to QR6.36mn and deals by 29% to 197.

However, the telecom sector’s trading volume more than doubled to 2.56mn shares as value also more than doubled to QR29.30mn on an 81% jump in transactions to 612.

The real estate sector’s trading volume surged 89% to 3.37mn shares, value by 73% to QR49.33mn and deals by 41% to 753.

The insurance sector’s trading volume soared 33% to 0.04mn shares and value by 21% to QR2.22mn, but transactions shrank 41% to 35.

Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Mazaya Qatar (2.64mn shares); Vodafone Qatar (2.50mn); Qatari Investors Group (1.36mn); Qatari German Company for Medical Devices (748,381) and United Development Company (374,686). There was no trading in the debt market.