QE shares fall for 2nd day on domestic institutions

29/12/2010 00:00 AST

Strong selling pressure from domestic institutions brought about a prolonged bearish spell on Qatar’s bourse as the index fell for the second day yesterday.

The 20-stock benchmark fell 0.86% to 8,645.65 points, led by Industries Qatar (IQ), Qatar Islamic Bank, Barwa and Nakilat.

The market is however up 24.28% year-to-date.

Market capitalisation lost 0.82% or about QR4bn to QR448.49bn mainly on mid, large and micro caps, which sunk 1.05%, 0.82% and 0.80% respectively. Small cap gained 0.14%.

Industrial stocks plunged 1.41%, followed by services (1.10%), insurance (0.59%) and banks and financial institutions (0.58%).

Of the 43 stocks, only seven gained, while 30 fell, two were unchanged and four were not traded.

Total trading volume fell 5% to 13.39mn equities whereas value gained 2% to QR531.44mn and transactions by 1% to 6,255.

The insurance sector’s trading volume plummeted 85% to 0.02mn shares, value by 90% to QR0.87mn and deals by 80% to 29.

The industrial sector witnessed a 41% slump in trading volume to 1.24mn shares, value by 28% to QR110.45mn and transactions by 27% to 943. The services sector’s trading volume fell 6% to 8.16mn but value rose 20% to QR276.88mn and deals by 7% to 3,316.

Banks and financial institutions trading volume however gained 26% to 3.97mn equities, value by 8% to QR143.25mn and transactions by 19% to 1,967.

Domestic institutions were increasingly bearish as their net selling surged to 13.23% from 3.55% in the previous day.

A higher 46.05% of them bought stocks compared with 38.80% on Monday although a much higher 59.28% sold against 42.35%.

Foreign institutions continued to be bullish but with lesser vigour as their net buying sunk to 2.12% from 3.93% in the previous day.

A lower 14.43% were into buying against 19% on Monday and a lower 12.31% were into selling compared with 15.07%.

Local retail investors turned bullish as they were net buyers to the tune of 6.67% against net sellers of 4.26% in the previous day.

A marginally higher 28.92% of them were into buying against 28.45% on Monday, while a much lower 22.25% were into selling compared with 32.71%.

Non-Qatari retail investors’ bullish grip rather strengthened as their net buying rose to 4.45% from 3.87% in the previous day.

A lower 10.60% of them bought stocks against 13.74% on Monday and a lower 6.15% sold compared with 9.87%.

Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Barwa (4.61mn shares); Masraf Al Rayan (2.68mn); Nakilat (723,823); IQ (723,410) and Gulf Warehousing (684,289).

Gulf Times