(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Qatar Stock Exchange was on Tuesday gripped by profit booking, especially in the telecom, real estate, consumer goods and transport stocks, leading to a 403 points fall in index and QR22bn in capitalisation.
Foreign institutions were increasingly into net selling as the 20-stock Qatar Index (based on price data) shrank 3.51% to 11,057.33 points as volumes also fell.
Local retail investors' net buying was rather strong in the market, which is, however, up 6.53% year-to-date.
The index that tracks Shariah-principled stocks was seen melting faster than the other indices in the market, where capitalisation plunged 3.47% to QR611.96bn.
The Total Return Index shed 3.51% to 16,491.91 points, All Share Index by 3.51% to 2,822.41 points and Al Rayan Islamic Index by 4.93% to 3,601.85 points.
Telecom stocks plummeted 5.63%, industrials (5.32%), realty (5.04%), consumer goods (5.01%), transport (4.91%) and banks and financial services (1.63%); whereas insurance was up 0.36%.
About 83% of the companies were in the red with major losers Industries Qatar, Qatar Islamic Bank, Commercial Bank, International Islamic, Gulf International Services, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Barwa, Mazaya Qatar, Vodafone Qatar, Ooredoo, Nakilat and Milaha.
However, Qatar Insurance, Al Khaliji, Doha Insurance and Zad Holding were seen bucking the trend.
Foreign institutions' net selling surged to QR106.79mn against QR77.32mn the previous day.
Domestic institutions' net selling rose to QR19.52mn compared to QR35.18mn on Monday.
Qatari retail investors' net buying swelled to QR123.33mn against QR83.59mn on December 15.
Non-Qatari individual investors' net buying fell to QR2.97mn compared to QR28.83mn the previous day.
Total trade volume fell 20% to 20.27mn shares, value by 8% to QR929.42mn and transactions by 26% to 8,192.
The consumer goods sector's trade volume plummeted 74% to 1.23mn equities, value by 42% to QR89.98mn and deals by 31% to 861.
The transport sector saw its trade volume plunge 64% to 1.03mn stocks, value by 60% to QR44.63mn and transactions by 49% to 437.
There was 48% shrinkage in the telecom sector's trade volume to 1.85mn shares, 41% in value to QR45.07mn and 41% in deals to 830.
The industrials sector's trade volume declined 13% to 2.7mn equities, value by 10% to QR195.28mn and transactions by 39% to 1,670.
However, the insurance sector's trade volume grew 10-fold to 0.1mn stocks and value was up 5% to QR5.78mn while deals shrank 53% to 66.
The real estate sector saw its trade volume surge 33% to 7.81mn shares and value by 16% to QR165.98mn but transactions were down less than 1% to 1,874.
The banks and financial services sector reported 11% expansion in trade volume to 5.55mn equities and 28% in value to QR328.7mn but on 11% fall in deals to 2,454.
In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and government bonds.
Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.