QE benchmark index breaks 10,000 mark

24/02/2016 07:37 AST

Qatari stocks closed higher yesterday breaking the technical 10,000 barrier. The benchmark index edged 0.90 percent up or 89.48 points to settle at 10,002.80. Yesterday’s rally follows a 1.05 percent jump in main index on Thursday.

Stocks kicked off the session higher during early trades,encouraged by strength in oil and global equities prices. The surge was mainly driven by Industrials and real estates and transportation.

Transportation sector soared 2.84 percent, while real estate and industrials rose 1.79 percent and 1.72 percent, respectively. Among the real estate stocks, Barwa gained the most by 3.63 percent. Industries major Industries Qatar (IQ) advanced 2.34 percent. Gulf Warehousing jumped 8.59 percent.

Turnover retreated 19 percent to QR401.36m from QR495.97m from the previous session. Trading volume reached 9.79 million shares through 6,090 trades, compared to 14.58 million shares exchanged hands on Monday through 6,140 transactions Rises in Brent crude and emerging market stocks over the past several days have helped to create a feeling that after a disastrous start to the year, the worst may be over for Gulf bourses; this sentiment has been seen in rising trading volumes, Reuters reported.

Elsewhere, the Saudi stock index rose 0.8 percent to 6,023 points in active trade on Tuesday. It faces resistance at the February and January peaks of 6,056-6,098 points.

Dubai’s stock index rose 0.7 percent to 3,192 points, testing resistance on its late December peak of 3,189 points.

Abu Dhabi’s index rose 0.4 percent as Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank surged 2.5 percent to 6.95 dirhams, The Peninsula

The Peninsula