Foreign funds’ profit booking drive QSE down 274 points; M-cap erodes QR19bn

The uncertainty surrounding the US rate increase and the volatility in the world gas market had their seismic effect on the Qatar Stock Exchange, which witnessed 274 points plunge in key index and QR19bn in capitalisation this week.The foreign institutions were increasingly into net profit booking as the 20-stock Qatar Index plummeted 2.56% this week which saw Industries Qatar report a record net profit of QR8.8bn in 2022.The banking, consumer goods and insurance counters witnessed higher than average selling pressure this week which saw Doha Bank report net profit of QR765mn in 2022.About 76% of the traded constituents were in the red this week, which saw United Development Company’s 2022 net profit at QR390mn.The Arab retail investors were seen bearish this week which saw Qatari Investors Group report net profit of QR188.12mn in 2022.The Islamic index was seen declining faster than main index this week which saw Dukhan Bank disclose that it will start trading on QSE from February 21.However, the local retail investors’ weakened net buying had its influence in the main market this week which saw the Qatar Financial Centre’s purchasing managers index find that the 12-month outlook on non-oil sector as the highest in three years.However, the Gulf funds were increasingly net buyers in the main market this week which saw global credit rating agency Capital Intelligence upgrade Qatar’s long term foreign and local currency rating to ‘AA’ from AA-’.The domestic funds turned bullish this week which saw Capital Intelligence say that Qatar’s debt dynamic remain "favourable”.Trade turnover and volume were on the decline in the main market this week, which saw a total of 0.22mn Masraf Al Rayan-sponsored exchange traded fund QATR worth QR0.54mn trade across 20 deals.Market capitalisation was seen eroding QR18.76bn or 3.09% to QR588.04bn on the back of large and midcap segments this week which saw as many as 0.01mn Doha Bank-sponsored exchange traded fund QETF valued at QR0.15mn change hands across 13 transactions.The Total Return Index knocked off 2.56%, All Share Index by 2.73% and All Islamic Index by 2.6% this week, which saw the industrials and banking sectors together constitute more than 72% of the total trade volume in the main market.The banks and financial services sector index plummeted 3.88%, consumer goods and services (3.5%), insurance (3.02%), real estate (1.72%), industrials (0.94%), transport (0.77%) and telecom (0.45%) this week which saw no trading of sovereign bonds and treasury bills.Major losers in the main market included Ezdan, Mazaya Qatar, Inma Holding, Qatari German Medical Devices, Lesha Bank, QNB, Qatar Islamic Bank, Salam International Investment, Woqod, Baladna, Qatar National Cement, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Qamco, Estithmar Holding, Al Khaleej Takaful, Qatar Insurance and Gulf Warehousing. In the venture market, Al Faleh Educational Holding saw its shares depreciate in value this week.Nevertheless, Qatari Investors Group, Aamal Company, Industries Qatar, Doha Insurance and Qatar Islamic Insurance were among the gainers in the main market this week.The foreign funds’ net selling increased substantially to QR71.78mn compared to QR7.62mn the week ended February 4.The Arab individual investors turned net sellers to the tune of QR16.86mn against net buyers of QR3.81mn a week ago.The local retail investors’ net buying weakened considerably to QR1.03mn compared to QR18.62mn the previous week.However, the Gulf funds; net buying expanded noticeably to QR60.87mn compared to QR57.97mn the week ended February 4.The foreign individuals were net buyers to the extent of QR11.9mn against net sellers of QR5.19mn a week ago.The domestic institutions turned net buyers to the tune of QR11.87mn compared with net sellers of QR68.05mn a week ago.The Gulf retail investors’ net buying strengthened perceptibly to QRQ2.44mn against QR0.28mn the week ended February 4.The Arab institutions’ net buying increased marginally to QR0.53mn compared to QR0.18mn a week ago.Total trade volume in the main market shrank 10% to 670.13mn shares, value by 22% to QR2.25bn and deals by 12% to 76,867.