In a show of resiliency, Qatar Stock Exchange on Wednesday gained 111 points, after four consecutive days of fall, to cross the 10,000 mark, mainly lifted by telecom, real estate and banking stocks.
A robust net buying support from foreign institutions led the 20-stock Qatar Index gain 1.12% to 10,070.89 points.
More than 64% of the traded stocks extended gains in the market, which is down 3.44% year-to-date.
The index that tracks Shariah-principled stocks was seen gaining slower than the other indices in the market, which saw an increased trading turnover.
However, there was increased net selling by domestic institutions and lower buying by local retail investors in the bourse, where banking, real estate and industrials sectors together accounted for about 70% of the total trading volume.
Market capitalisation rose 1.15% or more than QR6bn to QR534.99n with large, small and mid cap equities gaining 1.32%, 0.61% and 0.51% respectively; while micro caps fell 0.57%.
The Total Return Index gained 1.12% to 15,653.75 points, All Share Index by 1.01% to 2,683.36 points and Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.76% to 3,696.74 points.
Telecom stocks appreciated 4.44%, realty (1.49%), banks and financial services (1.03%), transport (0.64%), insurance (0.54%), industrials (0.4%) and consumer goods (0.23%).
Major gainers included Ooredoo, Vodafone Qatar, Ezdan, QNB, Industries Qatar, Masraf Al Rayan, Commercial Bank, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Nakilat, Qatar Insurance and United Development Company; while Aamal Company, Barwa, Gulf International Services, Doha Bank, Widam, Doha Insurance and Qatari Investors Group bucked the trend.
Non-Qatari institutions turned net buyers to the tune of QR26.37mn against net sellers of QR9.07mn on Tuesday.
The GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) individuals’ net selling fell to QR0.4mn compared to QR1.67mn on January 5.
However, domestic institutions’ net profit booking strengthened to QR19.37mn against QR5.56mn the previous day.
The GCC institutions turned net sellers to the extent of QR6.91mn compared with net buyers of QR1.16mn on Tuesday.
Non-Qatari individual investors were also net profit takers to tune of QR0.56mn against net buyers of QR5.63mn on January 5.
Local retail investors’ net buying weakened to QR0.87mn compared to QR9.5mn the previous day.
Total trade volume was up 1% to 3.51mn shares, value by 11% to QR143.94mn and deals by 2% to 2,852.
There was 67% surge in the insurance sector’s trade volume to 0.05mn equities, 59% in value to QR3.17mn and 32% in transactions to 62.
The consumer goods sector’s trade volume soared 35% to 0.23mn stocks and value by 35% to QR6.7mn, while deals fell 16% to 154.
The industrials sector saw 28% expansion in trade volume to 0.77mn shares, 46% in value to QR39.69mn and 24% in transactions to 653.
The telecom sector’s trade volume shot up 14% to 0.67mn equities, value by 24% to QR16.18mn and deals by 25% to 596.
The banks and financial services sector reported 5% rise in trade volume to 0.92mn stocks and 8% in value to QR58.17mn but on 8% fall in transactions to 904.
However, the transport sector’s trade volume plummeted 63% to 0.11mn shares, value by 68% to QR2.47mn and 36% in deals to 70.
The market witnessed 18% plunge in the real estate sector’s trade volume to 0.75mn equities, 12% in value to QR17.57mn and 10% in transactions to 413.
In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and government bonds.