QSE stocks in red on profit booking; M-cap melts QR3.82bn

“The Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) Wednesday saw bullish momentum initially but could not regain from severe profit booking pressure in the middle of the session, leading it to settle 51 points lower, wiping off about QR4bn in capitalisation. The market was initially on a gaining spree with the 20-stock Qatar Index touching an intraday high of 10,542 points but weak Middle East ceasefire had its toll later, resulting in an overall 0.49% fall to 10,472.69 points. The insurance, real estate and banking counters witnessed higher than average selling pressure in the market, whose year-to-date losses mounted to 2.69%. About three-fourth of the traded constituents were in the red in the main bourse, whose capitalisation melted QR3.82bn or 0.61% to QR624.95bn, mainly owing to midcap segments. The domestic funds and local retail investors’ weakened net buying had its impact on the main market, whose trade turnover was on the decline amidst higher volumes. The Arab and foreign individual investors’ lower net buying also had its influence on the main bourse, which saw as many as 0.11mn exchange traded funds (sponsored by AlRayan Bank and Doha Bank) valued at QR0.27mn trade across 50 deals. The foreign institutions continued to be net profit takers but with lesser vigour in the main market, which saw no trading of sovereign bonds. The Islamic index was seen declining slower than the other indices of the main bourse, which saw no trading of sovereign sukuks. The Total Return Index shed 0.49%, the All Share Index by 0.58% and the Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.36% in the main bourse, which saw no trading of treasury bills. The insurance sector index tanked 1.41%, realty (1.01%), banks and financial services (0.9%), industrials (0.26%) and consumer goods and services (0.13%); while transport and telecom gained 0.28% and 0.18% respectively. As many as 38 declined, while only 11 increased and two were unchanged in the main market. Major shakers in the main market included Estithmar Holding, Inma Holding, Qatar Oman Investment, Al Faleh Educational Holding, Qatar German Medical Devices, QNB, Commercial Bank, Baladna, Doha Bank, Mazaya Qatar and Barwa. In the juniour bourse, Techno Q saw its shares depreciate in value. Nevertheless, Mannai Corporation, Nakilat, Qamco, Al Khaleej Takaful, Dlala and Ooredoo were among the gainers in the main market. The domestic institutions’ net buying declined noticeably to QR15.14mn compared to QR21.87mn on May 12. The local individuals’ net buying weakened substantially to QR11.14mn against QR48.47mn the previous day. The Gulf institutions’ net buying decreased markedly to QR5.01mn compared to QR7.22mn on Tuesday. The Arab individual investors’ net buying shrank perceptibly to QR4.45mn against QR9.79mn on May 12. The foreign retail investors’ net buying fell marginally to QR2.24mn compared to QR3.42mn the previous day. However, the Gulf individuals turned net buyers to the tune of QR0.65mn against net sellers of QR0.17mn on Tuesday. The foreign institutions’ net profit booking decreased significantly to QR38.63mn compared to QR90.59mn on May 12. The Arab institutions had no major net exposure for the fourth straight session. The main market saw 3% jump in trade volumes to 149.66mn shares but on 3% fall in value to QR405.28n amidst 13% increase in deals to 25,544. In the venture market, a total of 0.29mn equities valued at QR0.64mn changed hands across 22 transactions. (Ends)

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