(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Qatari bourse's benchmark index plunged 1.94 percent, the most since November 4, 2014, on fresh oil price concerns. Oil related stock Gulf International tumbled, as the index headed to fourth straight session of bear slump to close at 13,423. The Gulf International, which is set to enter MSCI's emerging market index, was hammered by 4.96 percent.
The market was reacting to the lower probability of a production cut at this week's Opec meet. Brent crude prices traded under $80 a barrel in Asia trading early yesterday, analysts told The Peninsula.
The Industrials and Banking sectors, which enjoy the biggest weighting in the main index, closed down 2.84 percent and 0.86 percent respectively. Some QR11bn market capitalisation evaporated from the market as its size shrunk to QR731bn.
Bellwether Industrials Qatar (IQ) declined four percent. Among the banking stocks, QNB was the lone gainer that added 1.81 percent. Doha Bank tumbled 4.57 percent as QIB lost 1.67 percent and Masraf slid by 2.78 percent.
Overall, the value of banking stocks rose to QR1.75bn from the previous session's QR375m. QNB's total traded value jumped to QR1.2bn from QR168m. The banking major's total transactions rose to 1769 from 740. The banking sector's total number of transactions rose to 4,477 from 2,791. The value of industrials stocks rose to QR1.5bn from QR290m.
Insurance sector was the worst hit by declining by 4.18 percent. Qatar Insurance lost 6.04 percent. Property-related stocks took a beating across the sector with UDC edging 0.54 percent down and Barwa falling 2.96 percent. Ezdan lost 0.86 percent.
Telecoms sector declined 3.51 percent. Ooredoo lost 3.61 percent as Vodafone fell by 3.23 percent.
Foreign institutional investors were seen largely bullish yesterday. About 31 million shares worth QR3.62bn were traded. QNB was the active leader both in terms of value and volume.
Funds tracking MSCI's emerging markets index are likely to start buying several stocks in the United Arab Emirates and Qatar that will see their benchmark weightings increased after the end of trading yesterday. These include Emaar Properties, Dubai Islamic Bank and First Gulf Bank in the UAE, plus Doha's Industries Qatar, Qatar National Bank, Doha Bank and Commercial Bank of Qatar. In Qatar, Gulf International Services will join the benchmark for the first time, Reuters reported.
Elsewhere, Saudi Arabia's index fell 1.8 percent as most stocks slid. Shares in petrochemicals major Saudi Basic Industries dropped 4.1 percent and were the main drag. In Dubai, he index fell fell 1.5 percent to 4,558 points, Abu Dhabi index dropped 2.1 percent to 4,862 points.
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