Higher net selling by GCC institutions and lower buy interests of local, GCC and non-Qatari retail investors yesterday led the 20-stock Qatar Index to shed 0.27% to 11,503.66 points on lower overall volumes.

By Santhosh V Perumal
Business Reporter


The Qatar Stock Exchange continued to be under bearish spell for the third straight session yesterday, mainly dragged by consumer goods, transport, banking and realty stocks.
Higher net selling by Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) institutions as well as lower buying interests of local, GCC and non-Qatari retail investors were seen as the 20-stock Qatar Index fell 0.27% to 11,503.66 points on lower overall volumes.
The index that tracks Shariah-principled stocks was seen melting slower than the other indices in the market, which is down 6.37% year-to-date.
Nevertheless, foreign institutions’ profit-booking pressure was seen weakening in the bourse, where trading was largely skewed towards the real estate and banking sectors, whose stocks together constituted more than three-fourth of the overall trading volume.
Market capitalisation shed 0.28%, or about QR2bn, to QR605.63bn with large and mid cap equities melting 0.43% and 0.24%, while micro and small caps gained 0.44% and 0.16% respectively.
The Total Return Index fell 0.27% to 17,880.78 points, the All Share Index by 0.25% to 3,053.77 points and the Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.23% to 4,373.05 points.
Consumer goods stocks shrank 0.99%, followed by transport (0.78%), banks and financial services (0.42%) and realty (0.27%); whereas insurance, telecom and industrials rose 0.97%, 0.07% and 0.03% respectively.
Major losers included QNB, Barwa, Qatar Islamic Bank, Commercial Bank, Gulf International Services, Vodafone Qatar and Nakilat; even as Ooredoo, Mazaya Qatar and Mannai Corp bucked the trend.
GCC institutions’ net profit-booking rose to QR17.32mn compared to QR13.03mn the previous day.
Local retail investors’ net buying yesterday fell to QR29.28mn against QR40.16mn on September 14.
Non-Qatari individual investors’ net buying weakened to QR8.09mn compared to QR16.24mn on Monday.
GCC individual investors’ net buying declined to QR0.18mn against QR2.58mn the previous day.
Domestic institutions’ net profit-booking shrank to QR17.86mn compared to QR17.92mn on September 14.
However, non-Qatari institutions’ net selling plummeted to QR2.35mn compared to QR28.02mn on Monday.
Total trade volume fell 31% to 5.21mn shares, value by 24% to QR199.31mn and deals by 21% to 3,286.
The transport sector saw an 88% plunge in trade volume to 0.05mn equities, 76% in value to QR2.73mn and 57% in transactions to 80.
The insurance sector’s trade volume plummeted 69% to 0.04mn stocks and value by 56% to QR2.71mn, while deals were up 1% to 74.
There was a 44% shrinkage in the real estate sector’s trade volume to 2.34mn shares, 43% in value to QR44.88mn and 26% in transactions to 564.
The industrials sector’s trade volume tanked 20% to 0.59mn equities, value by 34% to QR37.54mn and deals by 25% to 956.
However, the market witnessed a 13% decline in the telecom sector’s trade volume to QR0.49mn stocks; even as value rose 9% to QR16.93mn. Transactions were down 6% to 509.
However, the banks and financial services sector reported a 13% expansion in trade volume to 1.59mn shares and less than 1% in value to QR87.71mn but on a 20% fall in deals to 941.
The consumer goods sector’s trade volume was up 9% to 0.12mn equities, while value shrank 4% to QR6.81mn and transactions by 10% to 162.
In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and government bonds.

‘Mowasalat eyes bourse listing by end-2016’
Mowasalat is expected to go public and may be listed on the Qatar Exchange towards the end of next year, if the modalities currently being worked go according to plans, Minister of Transport HE Jassim Seif al-Sulaiti told journalists on the sidelines of the Transport Forum yesterday.
The minister said there is room for further diversification and specialisation in the transport sector to explore more investment opportunities. Answering a query, al-Sulaiti said the fall in oil revenues would not affect the ongoing and future projects in the transport sector as the country has a number of major commitments to be delivered, including the FIFA World Cup in 2022.