Local retail investors turned bearish and there was substantially weak buying interests from foreign institutions as the 20-stock Qatar Index fell by a marginal 0.02% to 10,355.53 points, notwithstanding the assurance from Qatar government on support to the private sector.
Trade turnover and volumes were on the decline in the bourse, whose year-to-date losses were seen at 0.71%. A marginally higher net selling by Gulf institutions was also seen in the market, where telecom sector constituted more than 54% of the total volumes.
Islamic stocks declined relatively faster than the conventional ones in the bourse, where domestic institutions and non-Qatari individual investors were however bullish.
Market capitalisation was down 0.03% or QR16mn to QR556.47bn as microcap equities fell 0.37%; and mid and small caps (0.2% each); while large cap equities were up 0.015%. The Total Return Index fell 0.02% to 16,754.55 points, All Share Index by 0.02% to 2,860.29 points and Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.06% to 3,897.9 points.
Insurance stocks shrank 0.93%, industrials (0.47%) and telecom (0.25%); whereas realty gained 0.39%, transport (0.27%), banks and financial services (0.16%) and consumer goods (0.06%). About 58% of the stocks were in the red with major losers being Qatar Insurance, Industries Qatar, Qatari Investors Group, Ooredoo, Commercial Bank, Doha Bank and Al Khaliji; while QNB, Nakilat and Alijarah Holding notably saw their equities gain.
Local retail investors turned net profit takers to the extent of QR18.56mn against net buyers of QR1.53mn on October 6.
Non-Qatari institutions’ net buying weakened perceptibly to QR5.58mn compared to QR49.02mn the previous trading day.
The GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) institutions’ net selling rose marginally to QR5.6mn against QR5.35mn last Thursday.
However, domestic institutions turned net buyers to the tune of QR15.18mn compared with net sellers of QR37.25mn on October 6.
Non-Qatari individual investors were also net buyers to the extent of QR3.44mn against net sellers of QR0.26mn the previous trading day.
The GCC individual investors’ net profit booking weakened to QR0.05mn compared to QR7.65mn last Thursday.
Total trade volume fell 60% to 2.44mn shares, value by 68% to QR65.84mn and deals by 39% to 1,443.
There was 88% plunge in the industrials sector’s trade volume to 0.14mn equities, 91% in value to QR6.47mn and 52% in transactions to 239.
The transport sector’s trade volume plummeted 83% to 0.04mn stocks value by 88% to QR1.54mn and deals by 49% to 73.
The real estate sector reported 66% shrinkage in trade volume to 0.2mn shares, 65% in value to QR3.93mn and 46% in transactions to 154.
The telecom sector’s trade volume tanked 51% to 1.32mn equities, value by 43% to QR21.02mn and deals by 16% to 278.
The banks and financial services sector saw 50% decline in trade volume to 0.58mn stocks, 64% in value to QR22.35mn and 36% in transactions to 486.
The insurance sector’s trade volume shrank 44% to 0.05mn shares, value by 34% to QR3.03mn and deals by 24% to 79.
The consumer goods sector’s trade volume fell 20% to 0.12mn equities, while value rose 13% to QR6.5mn.
Transactions reported 39% shrinkage to 134.
In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and government bonds.