Foreign institutions help QSE inch near 11,500 points

The Qatar Stock Exchange Thursday gained more than 54 points to inch near 11,500 levels, mainly on substantial increase in foreign institutions’ net buying.The telecom, industrials, banking and real estate counters witnessed higher than average demand as the 20-stock Qatar Index settled 0.47% higher at 11,485.23 points, recovering from an intraday low of 11,428 points.More than 60% of the traded constituents extended gains to investors in the bourse, which saw Industries Qatar, Commercial Bank and QIIB touch 52-week high.The Gulf institutions continued to be net buyers but with lesser vigour in the market, whose year-to-date gains improved to 10.05%.The Islamic index was seen gaining slower than the other indices in the bourse, whose capitalisation grew more than QR3bn or 0.54% to QR661.26bn, mainly due to large and midcap segments.However, local retail investors and domestic institutions were increasingly into net selling in the market, which saw the industrials and banking sectors together constitute about 58% of the total trading volume.The overall trade turnover and volumes were on the increase in the main market, where the Gulf individuals turned net profit takers.Both foreign and Arab retail investors were also net sellers in the market, which saw a total of 1,421 exchange traded funds (Doha Bank sponsored QETF) valued at QR15,911 change hands across four deals.The Total Return Index gained 0.47% to 22,735.71 points, the Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) by 0.27% to 2,603.74 points and the All Share Index by 0.48% to 3,620.69 points in the market, which saw no trading of sovereign bonds and treasury bills.The telecom sector index expanded 0.8%, industrials (0.68%), banks and financial services (0.62%) and realty (0.53%); while transport declined 0.54%, consumer goods and services (0.23%) and insurance (0.08%).The other major gainers in the main market included Qatar Industrial Manufacturing, Ahlibank Qatar, Doha Insurance, Qatari German Medical Devices, Al Khaleej Takaful, QNB, Barwa and Ooredoo. In the venture market, it was Mekdam Holding.Nevertheless, Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance, Medicare Group, Qamco, Milaha, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, al khaliji and Inma Holding were among the losers.The foreign institutions’ net buying increased substantially to QR120.53mn against QR14.51mn on September 29.However, the domestic institutions’ net selling grew considerably to QR71.73mn compared to QR32.29mn on Wednesday.The local retail investors’ net selling shot up significantly to QR48.75mn against QR6.29mn the previous day.The Gulf individuals turned net sellers to the tune of QR1.97mn compared with net buyers of QR0.11mn on September 29.The foreign individuals were net sellers to the extent of QR1.44mn against net buyers of QR1.83mn on Wednesday.The Arab individuals turned net profit takers to the tune of QR1.07mn compared with net buyers of QR2.38mn the previous day.The Gulf institutions’ net buying weakened drastically to QR4.43mn against QR19.75mn on September 29.The Arab funds had no major net exposure for the eighth straight session.Total trade volume rose 6% to 154.99mn shares, value by 24% to QR609.26mn and transactions by 29% to 13,261 in the main market. The venture market had seen a four-fold jump in volume and eight-fold in value on tripled deals.In the main market, the transport sector’s trade volume soared 55% to 16.44mn equities, value by 50% to QR67.51mn and transactions by 16% to 947.There was a 54% surge in the insurance’s sector’s trade volume to 5.84mn stocks, 59% in value to QR15.57mn and 70% in deals to 326.The real estate sector’s trade volume shot up 22% to 11.89mn shares, value by 47% to QR22.65mn and transactions by 67% to 803.The banks and financial services sector saw an 18% expansion in trade volume to 41.43mn equities, 41% in value to QR259.78mn and 39% in deals to 4,605.The consumer goods and services sector’s trade volume was up 13% to 20.88mn stocks, value by 26% to QR52.43mn and transactions by 63% to 1,475.However, the market witnessed a 16% shrinkage in the industrials sector’s trade volume to 48.19mn shares, 5% in value to QR147.28mn and 1% in deals to 3,414.The telecom sector’s trade volume fell 13% to 10.32mn equities, whereas value rose 6% to QR44.04mn and transactions by 52% to 1,691.