By Santhosh V Perumal/Business Reporter


The Qatar Exchange remained under bearish pressure for the fourth day yesterday despite the buying support from domestic institutions.
An across-the-board selling, particularly at the realty, transport and banking counters, led the 20-stock QE Index (based on price data) to knock off 0.64% to 8,327.38 points. The market is down 5.14% year-to-date.
The 20-stock Total Return Index also shrank 0.64% to 11,269.96 points and the All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) by 0.59% to 2,004.67 points respectively. Both the indices factored in dividend income as well.
Under the All Share Index category, the index of real estate plunged 1.19%, followed by transport (0.99%), banks and financial services (0.76%), insurance (0.66%), telecom (0.29%), industrials (0.24%) and consumer goods (0.06%). More than 64% of the stocks were in the red.
Market capitalisation shrank 0.46%, or more than QR2bn, to QR457.89bn with mid, large, small and micro cap equities melting 1.07%, 0.49%, 0.40% and 0.32% respectively.
Of the 42 stocks, only seven advanced, while 27 declined, six were unchanged and two were not traded.
Foreign institutions’ net selling rose to 24.86% or QR32.60mn. A lower 8.52% of them bought equities compared to 11.13% on Tuesday, whereas a higher 33.38% offloaded against 31.65%.
On the other hand, domestic institutions’ net buying shot up to 12.33% or QR16.17mn. A higher 28.88% of them were into buying against 23.99% the previous day, while a marginally lower 16.55% of them into selling compared to 17.48%.
Qatari individual investors’ net buying fell to 8.85% or QR11.61mn. A lower 49.95% of them purchased equities compared to 53.17% the previous day and a marginally lower 41.10% sold against 41.21%.
Non-Qatari retail investors’ net buying rose to 3.67% or QR4.81mn. A marginally higher 12.64% of them were into buying against 11.71% on Tuesday, while a marginally lower 8.97% compared to 9.65%.
Total trading volume expanded 42% to 3.30mn shares, value by 26% to QR131.14mn and deals by 32% to 1,990.
The banks and financial services sector’s trading volume zoomed 92% to 1.88mn shares, value by 38% to QR71.74mn and transactions by 42% to 937.
The real estate sector’s trading volume surged 89% to 0.51mn shares and value more than doubled to QR11.16mn on a 76% jump in deals to 305.
The transport sector’s trading volume soared 57% to 0.36mn shares, value by 28% to QR6.80mn and transactions by 33% to 156.
The industrials sector’s trading volume shot up 40% to 0.28mn shares, value by 37% to QR26.32mn and deals by 21% to 257.
The insurance sector’s trading volume gained 34% to 6,739 shares, value by 17% to QR0.27mn and transactions by 60% to 16.
However, the consumer goods and services sector’s trading volume plunged 64% to 0.18mn shares, value by 18% to QR13.59mn and deals by 4% to 254.
The telecom sector’s trading volume tanked 36% to 0.09mn shares, value by 74% to QR1.26mn and transactions by 2% to 65.

Egypt at 9-day low; Gulf mixed
Egypt’s bourse slipped to a nine-day low yesterday, extending losses as political tensions encouraged investors to book gains from the rally of the past two weeks. Gulf markets were mixed. Cairo’s benchmark index slipped 0.3% to 5,301 points, down for a third session from last week’s one-month high.
In Saudi Arabia, the measure halted a three-session losing streak, edging up 0.03% to close at 6,867 points.
Dubai’s index rose 0.6%, up for five sessions in the last six. Abu Dhabi’s benchmark shed 0.4%. Elsewhere in the Gulf, Kuwait’s measure gained 0.5%; Oman’s index slipped 0.1% to 5,668 points, while Bahrain’s index rose 1.2% to 1,052 points.