QE ends flat despite telecom, consumer goods buy interest

The Qatar Exchange yesterday treaded a flat path despite buying interests in telecom and consumer goods stocks.

The QE Index (based on price data) was down by a marginal 0.02%, falling for the third consecutive day to 8,228.52 points.

The market is down 6.27% year-to-date.

The All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) rose 0.02% to 1,986.24 points; while the Total Return Index fell 0.02% to 11,136.16 points respectively. Both the indices factored in dividend income as well.

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), Commercialbank, Qatari Investors Group, Barwa, Mazaya Qatar and Milaha were among the losers; even as Gulf Warehousing (GWC) and QNB bucked the trend.

Under the All Share Index category, the telecom index rose 0.39%, followed by consumer goods (0.31%), banks and financial services (0.08%) and insurance (0.08%); while the indices of realty, transport and industrials fell 0.36%, 0.28% and 0.11% respectively.

Market capitalisation was up 0.08% or QR36mn to QR452bn with micro and large cap equities gaining 0.23% and 0.08%; while small and mid caps lost 0.29% and 0.05% respectively.

Of the 42 stocks, 15 gained, while 18 declined, seven were unchanged and two were not traded.

Qatari individual investors turned marginally bullish as they were net buyers to the tune of 0.72% against net sellers of 5.93% the previous day. Their net buying amounted to QR1.16mn.

A much lower 31.91% of them purchased equities compared to 45.52% on Sunday and a much lower 31.19% sold against 51.45%.

Non-Qatari retail investors were increasingly bullish as their net buying rose to 3.69% from 2.56% the previous day. Their net buying was QR5.94mn.

A lower 12.59% of them were into buying against 15.10% on Sunday and a lower 8.90% were into offloading against 12.56%.

Foreign institutions were increasingly profit-takers as their net selling rose to 7.59% from 5.32% the previous day. Their net selling amounted to QR12.22mn.

A much higher 43.18% of them were into buying against 22.73% on Sunday and a much higher 50.77% of them into selling compared to 28.05%.

Domestic institutions’ bullish grip slackened as their net buying sunk to 3.18% from 8.72% the previous day. Their net buying was worth QR5.12mn.

A lower 12.32% of them bought equities compared to 16.65% on Sunday, while a higher 9.14% offloaded against 7.93%.

Total trading volume was down 7% to 3.70mn equities but value rose 25% to QR160.99mn, while deals fell 3% to 2,318.

The real estate sector’s trading volume plummeted 63% to 0.21mn shares, value by 63% to QR3.43mn and transactions by 40% to 159. The consumer goods and services sector’s trading volume plunged 50% to 0.19mn shares, value by 52% to QR5.23mn and deals by 31% to 180. The industrials sector’s trading volume tanked 15% to 0.50mn shares, value by 30% to QR27.50mn and transactions by 6% to 461.

The telecom sector’s trading volume fell 3% to 0.31mn shares, value by 2% to QR5.57mn and deals by 24% to 141.

The banks and financial services sector’s trading volume fell 1% to 1.72mn shares, while value rose 70% to QR92.59mn, but transactions were down less than 1% to 819.

However, the insurance sector’s trading volume quadrupled to 0.08mn shares and value more than doubled to QR3.77mn on a 65% jump in deals to 76.

The transport sector’s trading volume soared 82% to 0.69mn shares as value more than doubled to QR22.90mn on a 57% gain in transactions to 482.

Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were QIB (747,948 shares); GWC (412,381); Masraf Al Rayan (316,239); Qatar Oman Investment (295,329) and Qatari Investors Group (290,059).

In the debt market, there was no trading.