Business Reporter
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| Investors monitoring market activity at the Qatar Exchange. The QE’s 20-stock benchmark yesterday extended gains to the second day as the index rose 330 points to 8,011.77, its largest single-day gain this year |
The 20-stock benchmark extended gains to the second day as the index rose 330 points to 8,011.77 with political stability appearing to be slowly returning to the Middle East.
The market is however down 7.72% year-to-date.
The insurance index surged 6.58%, followed by industry (5.18%), banks and financial institutions (4.56%) and services (3.26%).
Prime gainers included Industries Qatar (IQ), Nakilat, Barwa, QNB, Qatar Islamic Bank, Commercialbank, Masraf Al Rayan and Doha Bank.
Market capitalisation shot up 3.95% or more than QR15bn to QR404.43bn.
Of the 43 stocks, 35 gained, while three declined and five were not traded.
Foreign institutions turned bullish as they were net buyers to the tune of 4.49% against net sellers of 0.73% in the previous day.
A higher 29.15% of them were into buying compared to 27.62% on Monday; while a lower 24.66% were into selling against 28.35%.
Domestic institutions continued to be bullish but with lesser intensity as their net buying sunk to 6.52% from 10.41% in the previous day.
A higher 25.29% of them bought equities against 23.13% on Monday and a higher 18.77% of them sold compared to 12.72%.
Qatari individual investors were increasingly profit-takers as their net selling rose to 10.18% from 9.24% in the previous day.
A marginally lower 34.38% of them purchased equities compared to 35.80% on Monday and a marginally lower 44.56% sold against 45.04%.
Non-Qatari retail investors’ bearish grip strengthened as their net selling rose to 0.83% from 0.44% in the previous day.
A lower 11.18% of them were into buying against 13.44% on Monday and a lower 12.01% were into offloading compared to 13.88%.
Total trading volume rose 22% to 18.79mn equities, value by 33% to QR716.49mn and deals by 24% to 8,829.
Banks and financial institutions’ trading volume zoomed 52% to 9.64mn equities, value by 40% to QR331.52mn and transactions by 32% to 3,963.
The industrial sector witnessed a 52% jump in trading volume to 1.63mn shares, value by 88% to QR148.90mn and deals by 56% to 1,295.
However, the insurance sector’s trading volume plunged 31% to 0.11mn shares, value by 41% to QR5.44mn and transactions by 35% to 111.
The services sector’s trading volume was down 4% to 7.42mn whereas value gained 8% to QR230.63mn and deals by 12% to 3,460.
Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Rayan (6.24mn shares); Mawashi (2.22mn); Barwa (1.74mn); Nakilat (1.23mn) and IQ (1.10mn).