Qatari bourse index drops 69.49 points

Date

9/7/2015 1:12:50 AM

(MENAFN- The Peninsula)

Doha: Qatar Exchange (QE) index dropped 69.49 points or 0.61 percent yesterday when it closed at 11277.66 points. The market capitalisation declined QR595.83bn from QR598.91bn registered on Thursday.

Indices of all sectors declined. The consumer goods and services index dropped by 1.44 percent to 6601.16 points. Of the 43 companies listed shares of 41 exchanged hands. From these 32 dropped six gained and three remained unchanged.

Meanwhile Most Gulf stock markets fell tracking weak oil prices but Saudi Arabia rose after the government said it would keep borrowing to finance important projects and Etisalat lifted Abu Dhabi ahead of expected foreign fund inflows.

Oil futures fell on Friday as traders shrugged off a drop in the number of US rigs drilling for oil and focused instead on a supply glut and declining stock prices on Wall Street. Brent crude settled down $1.07 at $49.61 a barrel; it fell almost 1 percent on the week.

But Saudi Arabia’s main stock index climbed 0.6 percent after Finance Minister Ibrahim Alassaf said the cabinet would press ahead with projects deemed important for the economy while cutting unnecessary expenses to compensate for low oil prices.

Al Rajhi Bank jumped 2.3 percent and was the main support for the Saudi index while Banque Saudi Fransi jumped 2.6 percent. But retailers Jarir Marketing and Alhokair fell 2.4 and 4.7 percent.

Elsewhere telecommunications firm Etisalat surged 4.3 percent lifting the Abu Dhabi index 0.7 percent. All other Gulf markets were negative. Dubai’s index fell 0.8 percent with most stocks in the red although developer Damac the most traded company pared early losses and climbed 0.9 percent buoyed by an upcoming dividend. Oman slipped 0.05 percent and Kuwait’s index was down 1.6 percent.

Kuwait-listed shares in GFH the Bahrain-based investment firm tumbled 5.4 percent after GFH said its board of directors had approved the voluntary delisting of its shares from the Kuwait Stock Exchange.

The company said this would focus trading on its home listing and the main secondary market for its shares Dubai where volume is highest. In Dubai GFH fell 1.8 percent.

Egypt’s main index pulled back 0.3 percent after jumping 2.0 percent in the previous session. Pioneers Holding dropped 3.2 percent after the firm said market demand for its shares offered as part of a capital increase was close to zero.

In the first phase of the 3bn Egyptian pound ($383m) public offer it had received applications for just 136 shares out of 170 million shares offered.

QNA/reuters

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