(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Qatari bourse extended its bearish trend to fifth straight session yesterday. The benchmark index fell 1.91 percent to 11,995 points on profit-taking.
Sell-off continued because of the fresh drop in oil price. Oil price slipped to a fresh lows in the international market, market watchers noted.
The entire seven sectors experienced downward pressure yesterday, with the insurance sector performing the worst. The sector index plunged 2.42 percent, followed by the banking sector (2.17 percent), real estate sector (1.87 percent), Transportation (1.12 percent) and Industrials (1.59 percent). Trading volume rose to 7.4 million shares from 6 million, and the total value increased to QR309m from QR194.45m.
Barwa was the most active with a turnover of QR39m, or 11 percent, of the market's total turnover. Ezdan ranked first with a trading volume of 1.16 million shares, or 16 percent of the total volume. Among the banking stocks, Masraf Al Rayan lost the most, by 3.81 percent. QIB lost 2.45 percent, while QNB fell 1.89 percent.
Real estate stock Barwa slipped 3.15 percent and Ezdan retreated by 1.46 percent. Vodafone crashed 3.50 percent.
Weak crude prices continue to affect the sentiment of the retail investors who dominate local stock markets. Saudi Arabia's main index dropped 3 percent as shares in petrochemicals giant Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC) tumbled 4.6 percent. Profits in the petrochemical sector are particularly vulnerable to cheap oil, Reuters reported.
Dubai's index dropped 3.4 percent as all but a handful of stocks fell. Abu Dhabi's index edged down 0.5 percent as Aldar Properties, the emirate's biggest listed developer, dropped 3.6 percent and telecommunications firm Etisalat lost 0.5 percent.
Bahrain's Gulf Finance House (GFH), cross-listed in Dubai, was one of the few gainers, jumping 3.4 percent after the company said it had won a $11.5m legal case pertaining to its investment in a Qatari firm.
Egypt's market remained more upbeat and the Cairo index edged up 0.8 percent. As an energy importer, Egypt stands to benefit from cheaper oil, and bidding wars for local companies such as Bisco Misr and Arab Dairy Products have underscored growing interest in local equities. "Overall, some foreign investors seem to perceive this to be an ideal time, in order to be favourably exposed to Egypt's fundamental dynamics being on a path of recovery," Cairo-based Naeem brokerage said in a note.
The Kuwait index fell 0.8 percent to 6,497 points, while the Oman index fell 0.7 percent to 6,312 points and the Bahrain index slipped 0.3 percent to 1,422 points.
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