13/03/2014 09:14 AST
Qatar Exchange ended in the red area when trading closed yesterday at 11,349.17 points, down 1.39 percent, or 159.99 points, from the previous closing of 11,509.16 points on Tuesday.
The volume of shares was up to 15,742,784 from 15,633,037 and the value of shares increased to QR807,524,370.33 from QR654,286,605.40 on Tuesday.
Among the top losers were Qatar National Bank whose share was down 2.93 percent to QR182.50, International Islamic Bank lost 4.92 percent to QR73.50, Commercial Bank fell 0.92 percent to QR75.70 and Doha Bank was decreased by 2.40 percent to QR57.
The banking and financial sector index was lost 1.80 percent points, while consumer goods and services sector index dropped 3.30 percent. The industrial sector fell 0.99 percent, while insurance sector was down 1.70 percent.
Fears of Chinese slowdown trigger global sell-off
Elsewhere in the region, Dubai’s shares slid, leading a Middle East retreat as a gloomy global backdrop worsened a local lull and sparked profit-taking.
Copper, a proxy for China’s economic wealth, plunged to a four-year low, worsening fears about slowing Chinese economy and triggered selling across global equities.
“Global selling is affecting sentiment to a certain extent but the correction is a result of a strong early-year performance and a lack of catalysts,” Marwan Shurrab, fund manager and head of trading at Vision Investments said of UAE markets.
With fourth-quarter earnings mostly out of the way, investors have little to trade on. A string of companies going ex-dividend has hurt regional markets in the last few days; Dubai Financial Market, the only listed Gulf bourse, dropped 6.7 percent as it went past the date when shareholders are eligible to receive dividends.
Dubai’s index nosedived 3.8 percent in its biggest one-day drop in more than six months to cut its 2014 gains to 16.8 percent.
The measure fell to 3,936 points, breaking key technical support at the late February low of 4,026 points; this triggered a double top formed by the February peaks — a classic sign of the end of an uptrend — which points down to 3,810 points.
Abu Dhabi’s measure lost 2.8 percent, breaching for the first time in 17 weeks the low of a prior week, likely pointing to further downside.
“Each UAE market is likely to see increased supply on bounces as investors look to lock in profits or diminish losses as the near-term sentiment turns bearish - thereby suppressing the extent of short-term rallies,” said Bruce Powers, technical analyst and president at WideVision.
Egypt’s bourse gave in to the weak sentiment and the benchmark index slipped 0.2 percent despite upbeat earnings.
The Peninsula
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