The insurance, telecom, industrials, real estate and transport counters witnessed higher than average selling pressure in the main market, whose year-to-date losses widened further to 4.99%.
More than 56% of the traded constituents were in the red in the main bourse, whose capitalisation melted QR1.73bn or 0.29% to QR598.8bn with small cap segments losing the most.
The Arab individuals were seen bearish in the main market, which however, touched an intraday high of 10,390 points.
The local retail investors’ weakened net buying had its influence in the main bourse, which saw as many as 0.03mn exchange traded funds (sponsored by Masraf Al Rayan and Doha Bank) valued at QR0.06mn trade across 12 deals.
The foreign individuals’ lower net buying also had its say in the main market, which saw no trading of sovereign bonds.
The Islamic index declined faster than the other indices in the main bourse, which witnessed no trading of treasury bills.
The Total Return Index shed 0.27%, the All Islamic Index by 0.44% and the All Share Index by 0.27% in the main bourse, whose trade turnover and volumes were on the decline.
The insurance sector index tanked 1.87%, telecom (1.12%), industrials (0.45%), realty (0.38%), transport (0.3%) and banks and financial services (0.04%); while consumer goods and services gained 0.13%.
Major shakers in the main market included Qatar Insurance, Qatari German Medical Devices, Medicare Group, Ooredoo, Milaha, Industries Qatar, Qamco, United Development Company and Milaha. In the venture market, Mahhar Holding saw its shares depreciate in value.
Nevertheless, Qatar National Cement, Mekdam Holding, Zad Holding, QIIB, Doha Insurance, Gulf Warehousing and Nakilat were among the gainers in the main market. In the junior bourse, Al Faleh Educational Holding saw its shares appreciate in value.
The domestic institutions turned net sellers to the tune of QR1.83mn compared with net buyers of QR17.57mn on January 18.
The Arab individual investors were net sellers to the extent of QR1.32mn against net buyers of QR4.67mn the previous trading day.
The local retail investors’ net buying declined significantly to QR19.87mn compared to QR38.65mn last Thursday.
The foreign individuals’ net buying weakened noticeably to QR1.47mn against QR3.19mn on January 18.
The Gulf retail investors’ net buying eased marginally to QR0.73mn compared to QR0.76mn the previous trading day.
However, the Gulf institutions’ net profit booking grew substantially to QR12.04mn against QR39.6mn last Thursday.
The foreign institutions’ net selling weakened drastically to QR6.9mn compared to QR25.3mn on January 18.
The Arab institutions had no major net exposure against net buyers to the extent of QR0.05mn the previous day.
Trade volumes in the main market shrank 22% to 258.49mn shares, value by 42% to QR673.34mn and deals by 35% to 23,608.
The venture market saw trade volumes more than quadruple to 0.99mn equities and value quadrupled to QR1.04mn on tripled transactions to 69.