The foreign institutions and Gulf individuals were increasingly net buyers in the Qatar Stock Exchange, which Thursday grew by a marginal five points but remained below the threshold 10,900 levels.
A higher than average demand was seen especially in the consumer goods, industrials, telecom, transport and insurance counters as the 20-stock Qatar Index rose 0.05% to 10,844.92 points, recovering from an intraday low of 10,877 points.
The Islamic index was seen gaining faster than the other indices in the bourse, whose year-to-date gains were at 3.92%.
The foreign retail investors turned bullish in the market, whose capitalisation saw more than QR1bn or 0.2% jump to QR627.32bn, mainly owing to midcap segments.
More than 51% of the traded constituents extended gains in the bourse, where local retail investors turned bearish.
The domestic funds were increasingly net sellers in the market, which saw a total of 43,478 exchange traded funds (Masraf Al Rayan sponsored QATR and Doha Bank sponsored QETF) valued at QR415,493 changed hands across five deals; while in the debt market, there was no trading of sovereign bonds and treasury bills.
The Total Return Index was up 0.05% to 21,468.17 points, All Share Index by 0.1% to 3,429.48 points and Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) by 0.17% to 2,522.36 points.
The consumer goods and services sector index expanded 0.76%, industrials (0.36%), telecom (0.34%), transport (0.27%) and insurance (0.22%); while realty declined 1.21% and banks and financial services (0.01%).
Major gainers included Al Khaleej Takaful, Qamco, Inma Holding, Woqod, QLM, Mannai Corporation, Gulf International Services and Milaha; even as United Development Company, Medicare Group, Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance, Barwa, Masraf Al Rayan, Qatar First Bank, Qatar Islamic Insurance and Salam International Investment were among the losers.
The foreign institutions’ net buying increased significantly to QR38.85mn compared to QR0.43mn on April 21.
The foreign individuals turned net buyers to the tune of QR6.29mn against net sellers of QR0.21mn on Wednesday.
The Gulf individuals’ net buying strengthened notably to QR1.51mn compared to QR0.53mn the previous day.
However, the domestic funds’ net profit booking rose marginally to QR49.14mn against QR48.95mn on April 21.
Local retail investors were net sellers to the extent of QR4mn compared with net buyers of QR14.24mn on Wednesday.
The Arab funds turned net sellers to the tune of QR0.3mn against net buyers of QR0.03mn the previous day.
The Arab individuals’ net buying weakened considerably to QR0.62mn compared to QR24.45mn on April 21.
The Gulf institutions’ net buying declined perceptibly to QR6.19mn against QR9.3mn on Wednesday.
Total trade volume lost 19% to 246.28mn shares, value by 2% to QR520.05mn and transactions by 5% to 10,282.
The consumer goods and services sector’s trade volume plummeted 51% to 51.94mn equities, value by 47% to QR69.49mn and deals by 42% to 1,520.
The market witnessed 47% plunge in the real estate sector’s trade volume to 20.63mn stocks, 43% in value to QR35.29mn and 20% in transactions to 1,054.
The telecom sector’s trade volume tanked 37% to 6.29mn shares, value by 46% to QR14mn and deals by 53% to 333.
The banks and financial services sector saw 21% shrinkage in trade volume to 26mn equities, 4% in value to QR135.42mn and 15% in transactions to 3,228.
The transport sector’s trade volume shrank 20% to 2.96mn stocks and value by 5% to QR12.73mn, whereas deals were up 3% to 367.
However, the insurance sector’s trade volume more than doubled to 13.64mn shares and value more than tripled to QR48.5mn on more than doubled transactions to 923.
There was 16% surge in the industrials sector’s trade volume to 124.83mn equities, 32% in value to QR204.61mn and 8% in deals to 2,857.
 
 
Related Story