Foreign funds buying support lifts QSE sentiments

The Qatar Stock Exchange Wednesday snapped two days of bearish run to gain more than 34 points, mainly on the back of foreign institutions’ stronger buying interests.The Gulf funds and Arab individuals turned bullish as the 20-stock Qatar Index settled 0.31% higher at 11,177.53 points, although it touched an intraday high of 11,211 points.The industrials sector witnessed higher than average demand in the market, whose year-to-date gains were at 7.11%.The Islamic index was seen gaining faster than the conventional indices in the bourse, whose capitalisation saw more than QR2bn or 0.31% increase to QR645.21bn, mainly due to midcap segments.The foreign individuals were increasingly net buyers in the market, which saw the industrials and banking sectors together constitute more than 63% of the total trading volume.The overall trade turnover and volumes were on the increase in the bourse, where the domestic funds were increasingly into net profit booking.Local retail investors were seen net sellers in the market, which saw a total of 322,936 exchange traded funds (Masraf Al Rayan-sponsored QATR and Doha Bank-sponsored QETF) valued at QR3.33mn change hands across 40 deals.The Total Return Index shot up 0.34% to 22,126.58 points, the Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) by 0.34% to 2,549.77 points and the All Share Index by 0.28% to 3,539.64 points in the market, which saw no trading of sovereign bonds and treasury bills.The industrials sector index gained 0.97%, telecom (0.24%), real estate (0.16%), transport (0.12%) and banks and financial services (0.11%); while insurance was down 0.05% and consumer goods and services 0.01%.About 55% of the traded constituents extended gains with major movers being Qatar Industrial Manufacturing, Industries Qatar, QLM, Qamco, Gulf Warehousing, QNB, QIIB, Qatar First Bank, Al Meera and Ooredoo; even as Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Dlala, Salam International Investment, Commercial Bank and Qatari Investors Group were among the losers.The foreign institutions’ net buying increased noticeably to QR21.26mn compared to QR13.32mn on September 21.The Gulf institutions turned net buyers to the tune of QR8.33mn against net profit takers of QR1.03mn the previous day.The Arab individuals were net buyers to the extent of QR6.9mn compared with net sellers of QR11.22mn on Tuesday.The foreign individuals’ net buying strengthened perceptibly to QR2.22mn against QR1.18mn on September 21.However, the domestic institutions’ net selling increased influentially to QR24.48mn compared to QR20.7mn the previous day.Local retail investors turned net sellers to the tune of QR14.44mn against net buyers of QR17.38mn on Tuesday.The Gulf individuals’ net buying weakened notably to QR0.19mn compared to QR1.06mn on September 21.The Arab funds had no major net exposure for the second straight session.Total trade volume rose 8% to 123.64mn shares, value by 9% to QR327.57mn and transactions by 2% to 7,830.The insurance sector’s trade volume almost tripled to 3.36mn equities and value more than doubled to QR9.19mn on more than doubled deals to 182.The transport sector reported 66% surge in trade volume to 5.67mn stocks, 51% in value to QR21.52mn and 3% in transactions to 341.The telecom sector’s trade volume soared 51% to 3.45mn shares, whereas value shrank less than 1% to QR11.6mn and deals by 24% to 386.There was 42% expansion in the real estate sector’s trade volume to 16.9mn equities and 19% in value to QR22.83mn but on 9% decline in transactions to 941.The industrials sector’s trade volume shot up 26% to 49.74mn stocks, value by 52% to QR131.99mn and deals by 34% to 2,827.The banks and financial services sector saw 3% jump in trade volume to 28.67mn shares but on 14% shrinkage in value to QR107.23mn and 6% in transactions to 2,599.However, the consumer goods and services sector’s trade volume plummeted 44% to 15.85mn equities, value by 44% to QR23.21mn and deals by 32% to 554.In the venture market, Al Faleh equities were seen declining 1.35%, while those of Mekdam Holding gained 2.27%.