Foreign funds steer QSE into positive trajectory; Islamic stocks outperform

The Qatar Stock Exchange Tuesday gained more than 75 points, mainly paced by the consumer goods and industrials sectors.The foreign institutions’ increased net buying drove the 20-stock Qatar Index up 0.59% to 12,936.54 points, recovering from an intraday low of 12,937 points.The Arab retail investors were net buyers, albeit at lower levels, in the market, whose year-to-date gains improved to 11.27%.About 61% of the traded constituents extended gains in the bourse, whose capitalisation added QR3.06bn or 0.43% to QR715.66bn, mainly on the back of small and microcap segments.The Islamic index gained faster than the other indices in the market, which saw a total of 0.03mn exchange traded funds (sponsored by Masraf Al Rayan and Doha Bank) valued at QR0.36mn changed hands across 20 deals.Trade turnover and volume were on the increase in the main market; while it showed a decrease in the case of venture market.However, the local retail investors were increasingly bearish in the bourse, which saw no trading of sovereign bonds.The domestic institutions were seen net profit takers in the market, which saw no trading of treasury bills.The Total Return Index gained 0.59% to 26,498.23 points, the All Share Index by 0.44% to 4,107.32 points and the Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) by 0.8% to 2,834.33 points.The consumer goods and services sector index shot up 1.54%, industrials (0.9%), real estate (0.51%), insurance (0.44%), transport (0.31%), banks and financial sector (0.14%) and telecom (0.13%).The major gainers in the main market included QLM, Mannai Corporation, Medicare Group, Woqod, Milaha, Masraf Al Rayan and Ezdan.Nevertheless, Aamal Company, Doha Insurance, Estithmar Holding, Alijarah Holding, Qatar Electricity and Water, QNB and Nakilat were among the losers in the main market. In the venture market, both Al Faleh Educational Holding and Mekdam Holding saw their shares depreciate in value.The foreign institutions’ net buying increased significantly to QR130.83mn compared to QR4.18mn on September 19.The Arab individuals turned net buyers to the tune of QR0.58mn against net sellers of QR2.84mn the previous day.However, the local retail investors’ net selling expanded substantially to QR110.03mn compared to QR19.62mn on Monday.The domestic institutions were net sellers to the extent of QR14.18mn against net buyers of QR14.02mn on September 19.The Gulf institutions turned net sellers to the tune of QR7.89mn compared with net buyers of QR2.3mn the previous day.The Gulf retail investors were net sellers to the extent of QR1.4mn against net buyers of QR1.97mn on Monday.The foreign individuals turned net profit takers to the tune of QR0.35mn compared with net buyers of QR5.05mn on September 19.The Arab institutions’ net buying weakened noticeably to QR2.44mn against QR3.32mn the previous day.Total trade volume in the main market soared 16% to 138.5mn shares, value by 29% to QR540.3mn and deals by 16% to 16,886.The venture market saw 10% shrinkage in trade volumes to 0.26mn equities, 35% in value to QR1.34mn and 12% in transactions to 115.