QE index bull run enters seventh day

The Qatar Exchange yesterday entered a seventh consecutive day of bull run, paced mainly by the telecom and insurance sectors.

Foreign institutions’ buying lifted the 20-stock QE Index (based on price data) by 0.44% to 8,402.19 points. The market is, however, down 4.29% year-to-date.date.

Total Return Index and All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) also rose 0.41% and 0.44% to 2,020.79 and 11,371.19 points respectively. Both the indices factored in dividend income as well.

Major gainers included Commercialbank, Industries Qatar, Qatar Telecom, Milaha and Nakilat; even as National Leasing bucked the trend.

Under the All Share Index category, the telecom index surged 2.54%, insurance (1.44%), industrials (0.84%) and transport (0.76%), while that of consumer goods fell 0.24%, banks and financial services (0.11%) and realty (0.09%).

Market capitalisation gained 0.51% or more than QR2bn to QR461.14bn with mid and small cap equities gaining 0.44% each and large cap 0.36%; whereas micro caps lost 0.56%. Of the 42 stocks, 17 advanced, while 15 declined, seven were unchanged and three were not traded.

Foreign institutions turned bullish that they were net buyers to the tune of 0.50% compared with net sellers of 9.55% the previous day. Their net buying was QR0.88mn.

A much higher 34.17% of them were into buying against 13.59% on Tuesday and a higher 33.67% of them into selling compared to 23.14%.

Domestic institutions continued to be bullish but with lesser intensity as their net buying fell to 5.09% from 11.03% the previous day. Their net buying was QR8.95mn.

A much lower 19.14% of them bought equities compared to 31.38% on Tuesday and a lower 14.05% offloaded against 20.35%. Qatari individual investors were increasingly bearish as their net selling soared to 3.49% from 0.52% the previous day. Their net selling amounted to QR6.14mn.

A lower 35.40% of them purchased equities compared to 41.42% on Tuesday and a lower 38.89% sold against 41.94%.

Non-Qatari retail investors’ bearish grip strengthened as their net selling rose to 2.11% from 0.96% the previous day. Their net selling was QR3.71mn.

A lower 11.28% of them were into buying against 13.61% on Tuesday and a marginally lower 13.39% were into offloading against 14.67%.

Total trading volume fell 14% to 3.88mn equities, value by 11% to QR175.86mn and deals by 4% to 2,634.

The consumer goods and services sector’s trading volume plummeted 77% to 0.23mn shares, value by 80% to QR10.65mn and transactions by 71% to 237.

The industrials sector’s trading volume plunged 17% to 0.39mn shares, whereas value rose 31% to QR36.62mn and deals by 27% to 483.

However, the telecom sector’s trading volume soared 30% to 0.26mn shares, value by 49% to QR11.40mn and transactions by 66% to 254.

The transport sector’s trading volume expanded 24% to 0.31mn shares, value by 45% to QR12.30mn and deals by 52% to 256.

The insurance sector’s trading volume gained 17% to 0.07mn shares and value by 8% to QR3.23mn while transactions fell 14% to 71.

The real estate sector’s trading volume rose 9% to 1.04mn shares, value by 2% to QR17.80mn and deals by 14% to 359.

The banks and financial services sector’s trading volume was up 1% to 1.58mn shares, value by 5% to QR83.85mn and transactions by 16% to 974.

Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Mazaya Qatar (516,900 shares); Masraf Al Rayan (336,147); NLC (319,070); United Development Company (271,632) and Barwa (248,349).

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