02/04/2015 04:28 AST
Weaker oil prices on account of Iran nuclear talks and build up in the US supplies appear to have rocked the Qatar Stock Exchange, which on Wednesday plunged 180 points, after three consecutive days of buying.
An across-the-board selling – particularly in the telecom, insurance and banking counters – led the 20-stock Qatar Index plummet 1.54% to 11,531.01 points as trade volumes also declined.
Higher net selling intensity from local retail investors and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) institutions largely resulted in the bearish run in the bourse, which is down 6.14% year-to-date.
The index that tracks Shariah-principled stocks was seen melting slower than the other indices in the bourse, where real estate and banking stocks accounted for more than 63% of the total trading volume.
Market capitalisation eroded 1.41% or about QR9bn to QR624.49bn with large, mid and small cap stocks losing 1.8%, 1.09% and 0.87% respectively.
The Total Return Index fell 1.54% to 17,918.28 points, All Share Index by 1.33% to 3,091.98 points and Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.64% to 4,248.96 points.
Telecom stocks tanked 2.29%, insurance (2.06%), banks and financial services (1.55), industrials (1.19%), real estate (1.06%), consumer goods (0.65%) and transport (0.53%).
About 70% of the stocks were in the red with major losers being QNB, Industries Qatar, Masraf Al Rayan, Ooredoo, Vodafone Qatar, Qatar Islamic Bank, Gulf International Services, Qatar Insurance, Ezdan, Barwa, Mazaya Qatar, United Development Company and Nakilat.
Local retail investors’ net profit booking rose to QR32.2mn against QR21.13mn the previous day.
The GCC institutions’ net selling rose to QR3.19mn compared to QR2.82mn on March 31.
Non-Qatari institutions’ net buying weakened to QR12.62mn against QR35.19mn on Tuesday.
The GCC individual investors’ net buying sunk to QR14.2mn compared to QR19.21mn the previous day.
Non-Qatari individual investors’ net selling declined to QR0.23mn against QR8.36mn on March 31.
However, domestic institutions turned net buyers to the tune of QR8.66mn compared with net sellers of QR22.03mn on Tuesday.
Total trade volume shrank 52% to 5.01mn shares, value by 50% to QR282.95mn and transactions by 38% to 3,672.
The telecom sector’s trade volume plummeted 74% to 0.52mn equities, value by 75% to QR13.18mn and deals by 75% to 300.
The banks and financial services sector reported 63% plunge in trade volume to 1.29mn stocks, 58% in value to QR92.09mn and 52% in transactions to 833.
The consumer goods sector witnessed 58% decline in trade volume to 0.25mn shares and value by 25% to QR29.68mn, while deals rose 33% to 478.
The market witnessed 49% shrinkage in the industrials sector’s trade volume to 0.89mn equities, 49% in value to QR87.84mn and 24% in transactions to 1,142.
The transport sector’s trade volume tanked 40% to 0.12mn stocks, value by 22% to QR6.19mn and deals by 10% to 145.
The real estate sector saw its trade volume fall 17% to 1.89mn shares, value by 26% to QR51.17mn and transactions by 25% to 716.
However, the insurance sector’s trade volume quadrupled to 0.04mn equities and value more than quadrupled to QR2.8mn on 93% jump in deals to 58.
In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and government bonds.
Gulf Times
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