Domestic and foreign funds lift QSE 34 points; Islamic equities continue to outperform

The Qatar Stock Exchange on Monday gained about 34 points on buying interests, especially at the telecom, realty and banking counters.

The domestic funds were increasingly net buyers as the 20-stock Qatar Index rose 0.33% to 10,156.86 points, recovering from an intraday low of 10,100 points.

The foreign institutions turned bullish in the main market, whose year-to-date losses truncated further to 6.22%.

As much as 54% of the traded constituents extended gains to investors in the main bourse, whose capitalisation added QR1.67bn or 0.29% to QR585.82bn on the back of small cap segments.

The Arab retail investors’ weakened net profit booking had its influence on the main market, which saw 9,102 exchange traded funds (sponsored by Masraf Al Rayan and Doha Bank) valued at QR0.04mn trade across seven deals.

The Gulf individuals’ lower net selling had its say in the main bourse, which saw no trading of treasury bills and sovereign bonds.

The Islamic index was seen outperforming the other indices in the main bourse, whose trade turnover and volumes were on the rise.

The Total Return Index gained 0.33%, the All Share Index by 0.3% and the All Islamic Index by 0.36% in the main market.

The telecom sector index shot up 0.98%, realty (0.76%), banks and financial services (0.43%), consumer goods and services (0.14%) and industrials (0.05%); while insurance declined 0.26% and transport was flat.

Major gainers in the main bourse included Vodafone Qatar, QIIB, Mannai Corporation, Nakilat, Qatar Industrial Manufacturing and Industries Qatar. In the venture market, Al Mahhar Holding saw its shares appreciate in value.

Nevertheless, Inma Holding, Milaha, Gulf International Services, Dlala and Ahlibank Qatar were among the losers in the main market.

In the junior bourse, Techno Q saw its shares depreciate in value.

The domestic institutions’ net buying increased drastically to QR41.72mn compared to QR13.72mn on July 7.

The foreign institutions turned net buyers to the tune of QR5.53mn against net profit takers of QR9.03mn the previous day.

The Arab individual investors’ net selling declined perceptibly to QR2mn compared to QR3.77mn on Sunday.

The Gulf retail investors’ net profit booking weakened markedly to QR0.24mn against QR1.58mn on July 7.

The Arab institutions’ net selling eased marginally to QR0.09mn compared to QR0.13mn the previous day.

However, the Qatari individual investors’ net selling grew substantially to QR27.69mn against QR10.04mn on Sunday.

The Gulf institutions were net sellers to the tune of QR14.33mn compared with net buyers of QR8.41mn on July 7.

The foreign retail investors turned net sellers to the extent of QR2.98mn against net buyers of QR2.41mn the previous day.

Trade volumes in the main market expanded 7% to 153.03mn shares, value by 50% to QR460.15mn and transactions by 42% to 14,420.

The venture market saw 73% plunge in trade volumes to 0.67mn equities, 66% in value to QR1.58mn and 35% in deals to 149.