The Qatar Exchange gained yesterday on the back of buying support from domestic institutions.

Small, micro and mid cap equities were sought after as the QE Index (based on price data) gained 0.29% to 8,271.79 points. The market is down 5.78% year-to-date.

The All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) and the Total Return Index also rose 0.36% and 0.29% to 1,993.90 and 11,194.72 points respectively. Both the indices factored in dividend income as well.

Major gainers included Commercialbank, Qatari Investors Group, United Development Company and Barwa; even as Mazaya Qatar, Qatar Telecom, Vodafone Qatar and Nakilat bucked the trend.

Under the All Share Index category, the realty index surged 2.26%, followed by insurance (1.31%), consumer goods (0.69%), banks and financial services (0.21%), industrials (0.19%) and transport (0.10%); while the telecom index fell 0.51%.

Market capitalisation gained 0.36% or about QR2bn to QR453.51bn with small, micro and mid cap equities notably rising 1.02%, 0.39% and 0.38% respectively.

Of the 42 stocks, 21 gained, while only 11 declined, four were unchanged and six not traded.

Domestic institutions turned bullish as they were net buyers to the extent of 1.59% against net sellers of 83.14% the previous day. Their net buying was QR1.89mn.
A higher 13% of them bought equities compared to 1.62% on Monday, while a much lower 11.41% offloaded against 84.76%.

On the other hand, foreign institutions turned profit takers as they were net sellers to the tune of 6.73% compared with net buyers of 81.15% the previous day. Their net selling was worth QR8.01mn.

A much lower 13.34% of them were into buying against 87.54% on Monday, whereas a higher 20.07% of them into selling compared to 6.39%.

Qatari individual investors turned marginally bearish as they were net sellers to the extent of 0.18% against net buyers of 1.75% the previous day. Their net selling amounted to QR0.21mn.

A much higher 48.79% of them purchased equities compared to 7.84% on Monday and a much higher 48.97% sold against 6.09%.

Non-Qatari retail investors were increasingly bullish as their net buying soared to 5.31% from 0.24% the previous day. Their net buying was worth QR6.32mn.

A much higher 24.86% of them were into buying against 3% on Monday and a much higher 19.55% were into offloading against 2.74%.

Total trading volume gained 44% to 5.64mn equities, value by 25% to QR118.98mn and deals by 28% to 2,685.

The real estate sector’s trading volume more than quadrupled to 2.23mn shares and value also more than quadrupled to QR44.60mn on more than doubled transactions to 864.

The telecom sector’s trading volume more than doubled to 1.70mn shares and value also more than doubled to QR17.53mn on more than tripled deals to 439.

The industrials sector’s trading volume gained 5% to 0.22mn shares, value by 24% to QR12.34mn and transactions by 15% to 274.

Although the insurance sector’s trading volume was flat at 0.03mn shares, value more than doubled to QR2.03mn and deals rose 50% to 27.

However, the transport sector’s trading volume plummeted 56% to 0.42mn shares, value by 55% to QR7.29mn and transactions by 39% to 268.

The consumer goods and services sector’s trading volume plunged 50% to 0.11mn shares, while value rose 15% to QR6.95mn but deals fell 30% to 106.

The banks and financial services sector’s trading volume tanked 31% to 0.92mn shares, value by 38% to QR28.23mn and transactions by 13% to 707.

Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Vodafone Qatar (1.68mn shares); Barwa (859,375); Mazaya Qatar (696,025), United Development Company (673,543) and Nakilat (402,532).
In the debt market, there was no trading.