Industrials equities pace QSE above 11,300; IQ, Qamco touch 52-wk high

The Qatar Stock Exchange Sunday opened the week on a stronger note and its key index surpassed 11,300 levels with ease, mainly on the back of strong buying in industrials and telecom equities.More than 60% of the traded constituents extended gains as the 20-stock Qatar Index settled 73 points or 0.65% higher at 11,313.5 points, recovering from an intraday low of 11,245 points.Industries Qatar and Qamco touched 52-week highs in the market, whose year-to-date gains were at 8.41%.The Islamic index was seen gaining faster than the conventional indices in the bourse, whose capitalisation saw more than QR3bn or 0.55% increase to QR652.5bn, mainly due to midcap segments.The domestic funds’ net selling pressure weakened considerably in the market, which saw the industrials sector alone constitute more than 58% of the total trading volume.The overall trade turnover and volumes were on the increase in the main market, where the Arab individuals’ net profit booking weakened.Local retail investors and foreign funds continued to be net buyers but with lesser intensity in the market, which saw a total of 356,100 exchange traded funds (Masraf Al Rayan-sponsored QATR) valued at QR902,358 change hands across 38 deals.The Total Return Index gained 0.65% to 22,395.75 points, the Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) by 0.9% to 2,582.64 points and the All Share Index by 0.49% to 3,575.28 points in the market, which saw no trading of sovereign bonds and treasury bills.The industrials sector index gained 1.79%, telecom (1.13%), real estate (0.41%), consumer goods and services (0.33%), insurance (0.14%) and banks and financial services (0.05%), while transport was down 0.05%.Apart from IQ and Qamco, other gainers in the main market were Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Gulf International Services, Zad Holding, Inma Holding, Mannai Corporation, Al Meera, Qatar Electricity and Water, QLM, Barwa, Ooredoo, Vodafone Qatar and Gulf Warehousing. In the venture market, Mekdam Holding equities were on the rise.Nevertheless, Qatar Cinema and Film Distribution, Qatar Islamic Insurance, Al Khaliji, Qatar First Bank and QNB were among the shakers in the main market. Al Faleh Educational Holding shares lost their sheen in the juniour market.The domestic institutions’ net selling declined considerably to QR13.62mn compared to QR26.29mn on September 23.The Arab individuals’ net profit booking shrank noticeably to QR0.95mn against QR9.71mn the previous trading day.The Gulf individuals’ net buying increased perceptibly to QR0.24mn compared to QR0.04mn last Thursday.However, the foreign individuals’ net selling strengthened noticeably to QR1.64mn against QR0.81mn on September 23.The Gulf institutions turned net sellers to the tune of QR0.17mn compared with net buyers of QR8.02mn the previous day.The foreign institutions’ net buying decreased drastically to QR7.28mn against QR19.5mn last Thursday.Local retail investors’ net buying eased marginally to QR8.86mn compared to QR9.25mn on September 23.The Arab funds had no major net exposure for the fourth straight session.Total trade volume rose 12% to 176.4mn shares and value by 8% to QR408.92mn, while transactions fell 13% to 7,993 in the main market. The venture market had seen 7%, 15% and 21% decline in volume, value and transactions respectively.In the main market, the telecom sector’s trade volume more than quadrupled to 7.72mn equities and value more than tripled to QR24.71mn on more than doubled deals to 717.The insurance’s sector’s trade volume more than doubled to 3.4mn stocks and value also more than doubled to QR9.12mn on a 44% increase in transactions to 157.The industrials sector’s trade volume soared 20% to 102.99mn shares and value by 19% to QR202.15mn whereas deals were down 10% to 3,432.The market witnessed 1% rise in the consumer goods and services sector’s trade volume to 23.63mn equities but on 21% decline in value to QR41.37mn and 22% in transactions to 786.However, the banks and financial services sector’s trade volume plummeted 22% to 20.64mn stocks, value by 15% to QR91.41mn and deals by 34% to 1,854.There was a 19% plunge in the transport sector’s trade volume to 4.54mn shares, 6% in value to QR18.8mn and 12% in transactions to 349.The real estate sector’s trade volume was down less than 1% to 14.07mn equities, while value expanded 15% to QR21.35mn despite 18% lower deals at 698.