Ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holidays, the Qatar Stock Exchange on Thursday lost another 18 points, dragged down by selling pressure, especially in the telecom and insurance sectors.
The domestic institutions were increasingly net profit takers as the 20-stock Qatar Index shrank 0.18% to 9,930.33 points.
The market moved in a rollercoaster fashion with the index touching an intraday low of 9,907 points, even as it hit a high of 9,945 points.
The foreign retail investors turned net sellers in the main market, whose year-to-date losses widened to 7.03%.
The foreign individual investors’ weakened net buying had its influence on the main bourse, whose capitalisation was seen eroding QR2.13bn or 0.37% to QR576.25bn, mainly on account of small and microcap segments.
However, the local individuals turned increasingly net buyers in the main market, which saw a total of 0.05mn exchange traded funds (sponsored by Masraf Al Rayan and Doha Bank) valued at QR0.25mn changed hands across 11 deals.
The Gulf funds were also increasingly bullish in the main bourse, which saw no trading of sovereign bonds.
The Islamic index was seen declining faster than the main index in the main market, which saw no trading of treasury bills.
The Total Return Index was down 0.18%, the Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) by 0.26% and the All Share Index by 0.36% in the main bourse, whose trade turnover fell amidst higher volumes.
The telecom sector index tanked 1.68%, insurance (1.52%), industrials (0.4%), real estate (0.21%), consumer goods and services (0.15%) and banks and financial services (0.12%); while transport gained 0.47%.
About 47% of the traded constituents in the main market were in the red with major losers being Qatar Insurance, Ooredoo, Mazaya Qatar, QIIB, Qatari Investors Group, Masraf Al Rayan and Gulf Warehousing.
In the venture market, Al Faleh Educational Holding saw its shares depreciate in value.
Nevertheless, Inma Holding, Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance, Qatari German Medical Devices, Medicare Group, Al Khaleej Takaful, Commercial Bank, Lesha Bank, Mannai Corporation and Vodafone Qatar were among the gainers in the main market.
The domestic institutions’ net selling increased significantly to QR26.96mn compared to QR9.64mn on April 19.
The foreign individuals turned net sellers to the tune of QR0.4mn against net buyers of QR0.09mn the previous day.
The Gulf retail investors’ net buying weakened marginally to QR0.04mn compared to QR0.47mn on Wednesday.
However, the local retail investors’ net buying expanded perceptibly to QR18.96mn against QR17.82mn on April 19.
The foreign institutions were net buyers to the extent of QR4.96mn compared with net sellers of QR11.03mn the previous day.
The Gulf institutions’ net buying strengthened markedly to QR3.58mn against QR2.68mn on Wednesday.
The Arab individuals’ net profit booking fell marginally to QR0.17mn compared to QR0.4mn on April 19.
The Arab institutions had no major net exposure for the second straight session.
The main market saw a 12% jump in trade volumes to 90.3mn shares but on 16% contraction in value to QR233.69mn and 9% in deals to 11,641.
