QSE settles below 10,200 levels as foreign institutions turn bearish

An across-the-board selling, particularly in insurance and consumer goods, yesterday drove the Qatar Stock Exchange below 10,200 levels.

Foreign institutions turned bearish as the 20-stock Qatar Index settled 74 points, or 0.72% to 10,197.57 points. Domestic funds’ weakened buying interests also had its role in dampening the market, whose key benchmark was down 0.98% year-to-date.

“The market has lost its upward steam and needs to regain strength above 10,600 points to change the tone and target 10,810 points; however, only above this line will confirm a return to 11,100 points and maybe higher to the strong layer at 11,400 points,” Kamco analysts said in their technical note.

Market capitalisation saw more than QR3bn or 0.62% decline to QR567.66bn mainly owing to mid and small cap segments. Islamic equities were seen declining slower than the other indices on the market, where local retail investors and Gulf institutions turn bullish.

Trade turnover marginally fell amidst higher volumes on the bourse, where banking and industrials sectors together accounted for about 62% of the total volume.

The Total Return Index lost 0.72% to 18,764.38 points, All Share Index by 0.7% to 3,022.46 points and Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) by 0.61% to 2,308.6 points.

The insurance index tanked 1.63%, consumer goods (1.15%), banks and financial services (0.67%), industrials (0.67%), telecom (0.5%), realty (0.21%) and transport (0.03%). About 70% of the traded constituents were in the red with major losers being Qatar Insurance, Al Khaleej Takaful, Doha Bank, Commercial Bank, Qatar Islamic Bank, QNB, Gulf International Services, Qatari Investors Group, Woqod and Widam; even as Qatari German Company for Medical Devices, Nakilat and Gulf Warehousing were among the gainers. Non-Qatari institutions turned net sellers to the tune of QR18.91mn against net buyers of QR0.4mn the previous day. Domestic funds’ net buying declined significantly to QR6.81mn compared to QR20.01mn on October 8. Non-Qatari individuals’ net buying weakened noticeably to QR0.97mn against QR1.43mn on Tuesday.

The Gulf individual investors’ net buying also shrank marginally to QR0.42mn compared to QR0.76mn the previous day. However, local retail investors turned net buyers to the extent of QR8.64mn against net sellers of QR9.58mn on October 8. The Gulf institutions were net buyers to the tune of QR2.07mn compared with net profit takers of QR13.01mn on Tuesday.

Total trade volume rose 32% to 70.76mn shares, while value fell less than 1% to QR190.2mn and transactions by 16% to 4,670. The consumer goods sector’s trade volume more than doubled to 12.85mn equities, value gained 6% to QR19.69mn and deals by 22% to 813.

The banks and financial services sector saw 94% surge in trade volume to 24.93mn stocks, 19% in value to QR119.69mn and 1% in transactions to 1,722. The industrials sector’s trade volume was up 4% to 18.6mn shares, whereas value declined 14% to QR28.05mn and deals by 17% to 1,205.

However, there was 46% plunge in the telecom sector’s trade volume to 1.18mn equities, 70% in value to QR3.86mn and 70% in transactions to 249.

The transport sector’s trade volume plummeted 43% to 1.74mn stocks, value by 57% to QR4.38mn and deals by 42% to 133. The insurance sector reported 21% shrinkage in trade volume to 0.88mn shares, 52% in value to QR2.23mn and 22% in transactions to 148.