QSE scales 12,600 levels; Islamic equities outperform

The Qatar Stock Exchange Tuesday witnessed more than 67% of the traded constituents gained, thus helping the key barometer surpass the 12,600 levels.The telecom, real estate and transport saw higher than average demand as the 20-stock Qatar Index jump 0.5% to 12,638.03 points, recovering from an intraday low of 12,455 points.The foreign and Arab individuals turned net buyers, albeit at lower levels, in the market, whose year-to-date gains improved to 8.66%.The local retail investors’ weakened net selling had its influence in the main bourse, whose capitalisation saw QR3.09bn or 0.44% increase to QR704.62bn, mainly on the back of microcap segments.The Islamic index was seen gaining faster than the other indices in the market, which saw a total of 0.01mn exchange traded funds (sponsored by Masraf Al Rayan and Doha Bank) valued at QR0.1mn changed hands across six deals.Trade turnover volumes were seen expanding in the main market, while the junior bourse saw declining trade turnover and volumes.The foreign funds continued to be net buyers but with lesser intensity in the bourse, which saw no trading of sovereign bonds.The Gulf institutions were seen increasingly into net profit booking in the main market, which saw no trading of treasury bills.The Total Return Index grew 0.5% to 25,876.54 points, the All Share Index by 0.39% to 4,025.04 points and the Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) by 0.98% to 2,785.49 points.The telecom sector index shot up 2.79%, real estate (1.07%), transport (0.91%), consumer goods and services (0.78%) and industrials (0.68%); while insurance declined 0.13% and banks and financial services 0.01%.Major gainers in the main market included Mannai Corporation, Medicare Group, Al Khaleej Takaful, Ooredoo, Baladna, Qatar Electricity and Water, Qamco, Estithmar Holding, Mazaya Qatar, Barwa, Vodafone Qatar and Nakilat. In the venture market, Mekdam Holding saw its shares appreciate in value.Nevertheless, Qatar Islamic Insurance, Widam Food, Aamal Company, Al Meera and QIIB were among the losers in the main market.The foreign individuals turned net buyers to the tune of QR1.11mn compared with net sellers of QR10.49mn on November 7.The Arab retail investors were net buyers to the extent of QR0.69mn against net sellers of QR4mn the previous day.The local retail investors’ net selling declined substantially to QR3.59mn compared to QR26.85mn on Monday.The domestic institutions’ net profit booking weakened perceptibly to QR52.55mn against QR56.45mn on November 7.The Gulf individuals’ net selling shrank significantly to QR1.87mn compared to QR3.64mn the previous day.The Gulf institutions’ net selling expanded considerably to QR21.06mn against QR1.8mn on Monday.The foreign institutions’ net buying decreased noticeably to QR77.27mn compared to QR103.63mn on November 7.The Arab institutions had no major net exposure against net sellers to the tune of QR0.42mn the previous day.Total trade volume in the main market zoomed 33% to 154.74mn shares and value by 17% to QR559.74mn, whereas deals were down 4% to 19,366.The venture market saw a 50% plunge in trade volumes to 0.04mn equities, 32% in value to QR0.34mn and 37% in transactions to 29.