Qatar Exchange gained for the fourth day yesterday mainly on telecom and realty stocks, ahead of Eid holidays.

Small and mid cap equities, specifically witnessed brisk buying, as the 20-stock QE Index (based on price data) gained 0.78% to 8,486.96 points. The market is, however, down 3.33% year-to-date. A total of 46.85mn shares of Ezdan Real Estate were traded on special market.

The 20-stock Total Return Index and All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) gained 0.74% and 0.78% to 2,039.40 and 11,485.92 points. Both the indices factored in dividend income as well.

Major gainers included al khaliji, Commercialbank, QNB, Qatari Investors Group, Gulf International Services, Barwa, Mazaya Qatar, Qatar Telecom and Milaha; even as Salam International Investment (SIIL), United Development Company and Vodafone Qatar bucked the trend.

Under the All Share Index category, the telecom index surged 2.68%, real estate (0.98%), banks and financial services (0.77%), insurance (0.69%), industrials (0.48%) and transport (0.44%); while that of consumer goods fell 0.25%.

Market capitalisation gained 0.63% or about QR2bn to QR463.37bn mainly with small, mid and large cap equities appending 1.66%, 0.62% and 0.56% respectively; whereas micro caps fell 0.34%.

Of the 42 stocks, 21 advanced, while 15 declined, four were unchanged and two were not traded.

Domestic institutions were increasingly bullish as their net buying soared to 2.22% from 1.67% the previous day. Their net buying was QR24.13mn.

A marginally higher 90.59% of them bought equities compared to 90.02% on Wednesday and a marginally higher 88.37% offloaded against 88.35%.

Foreign institutions were increasingly bearish as their net selling rose to 1.39% from 0.87% the previous day. Their net selling was QR15.11mn.

A marginally higher 1.84% of them were into buying against 1.78% on Wednesday and a marginally higher 3.23% of them into selling compared to 2.65%.

Qatari individual investors turned profit takers as they were net sellers to the tune of 0.86% against net buyers of 0.14% the previous day. Their net selling amounted to QR9.35mn.

A lower 4.80% of them purchased equities compared to 6.33% on Wednesday and a lower 5.66% sold against 6.19%.

Non-Qatari retail investors turned marginally bullish as they were net buyers to the extent of 0.03% compared with net sellers of 0.94% the previous day. Their net buying was QR0.33mn.
A marginally higher 2.77% of them were into buying against 1.87% on Wednesday whereas a marginally lower 2.74% were into offloading against 2.81%.

Total trading volume was up 1% to 51.47mn equities, while value was down less than 1% to QR1.08bn but deals gained 10% to 2,760.

The telecom sector’s trading volume more than doubled to 0.51mn shares and value almost quadrupled to QR18.01mn on more than doubled transactions to 328.

The industrials sector’s trading volume zoomed 83% to 0.73mn shares, value by 22% to QR31.37mn and deals by 59% to 489.

The consumer goods and services sector’s trading volume surged 71% to 0.48mn shares, whereas value shrank 38% to QR13.85mn and transactions by 16% to 338.

The transport sector’s trading volume soared 50% to 0.42mn shares, value by 34% to QR9.67mn and deals by 42% to 273.

The banks and financial services sector’s trading volume expanded 18% to 1.31mn shares, while value fell 5% to QR48.10mn but transactions were up less than 1% to 875.

However, the insurance sector’s trading volume plummeted 33% to 0.06mn shares, value by 24% to QR3.24mn and deals by 38% to 59.

The real estate sector’s trading volume was down 2% to 47.96mn shares, value by 1% to QR962.59mn and transactions by 22% to 398.

Actively traded stocks (in terms of volume) were Ezdan (46.85mn shares); Barwa (655,011); Qatari Investors Group (487,912); Vodafone Qatar (372,252) and SIIL (339,005). In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills.