(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Qatar Exchange index continued its green run yesterday, gaining 113.62 points, or 0.96 percent when the bourse closed trading at 11,947.45 points.
Indices of all sectors made fair gains yesterday. The market capitalisation increased to QR642.40bn from QR637.96bn registered on Tuesday.
The traded value decreased slightly to QR365.23m with a volume of 9,559.645 shares from 4,888 transactions compared to QR365.57m with a volume of 8,207,340 shares from 4,430 transactions on Tuesday.
Real estate index made most gains today, up substantially by 3.02 percent to 2,532.67 points followed by consumer goods and services, up 1.28 percent to 7,065.71 points.
Transport index gained 1.10 percent (2,445.8 points), industries 0.75 percent to 3,983.95 points, insurance 0.53 percent (4,143.23 points), banks and financial services 0.21 percent (3,183.11 points) and telecoms 0.18 percent (1,327.42 points).
QSE's Total Return index gained 0.96 percent (18,565.41 points), QSE Al Rayan Islamic index 1.51 percent (4,435.42 points) and QSE All Share index 0.89 percent (3,189.68 points).
Meanwhile, most other regional stock markets rose yesterday, buoyed by firmer oil prices, as Egypt climbed after rating agency Moody's Investors Service upgraded the country's sovereign debt.
Brent crude had rebounded sharply in the past two days and although it pulled back slightly yesterday, it remained above $58 a barrel, about $1 above its levels when Gulf stock markets were open on Tuesday.
The Saudi stock index climbed 0.6 percent to 8,852 points in increasing turnover. It rose further from chart support at the March low of 8,497 points, which was tested and held on Sunday, and may now be at least a short-term bottom for the market.
Real estate stocks, which began recovering this week from a sell-off caused by a plan to tax undeveloped land, lost steam;
Dar Al Arkan, the most heavily traded stock, fell 0.8 percent.
But petrochemical firms attracted buying after previously being beaten down by weak oil prices. Saudi Basic Industries , the biggest petrochemical producer, gained 2.5 percent to SR84.50; any break above the late March high of SR86.25 would trigger a minor double bottom pointing up to the 94 riyal area.
Jarir Marketing, Saudi Arabia's second-largest retailer by market value, rose 2.8 percent after posting a 22.7 percent increase in first-quarter net profit to SR247m ($65.9m); analysts polled by Reuters had forecast on average a profit of SR231m.
Among other Gulf markets, Qatar climbed 1.0 percent, pulled up by Barwa Real Estate, up 3.6 percent. The stock has been in an uptrend since the end of March, when the company's chairman Salah bin Ghanim Al Ali outlined planned projects for this year.
Dubai fell, however, as active low-priced stocks pulled back. Dubai Parks and Resorts, which had repeatedly tested and failed to break the 0.98 dirham level in recent days, dropped 3.7 percent to 0.90 dirham. Gulf Finance House, which had jumped 8.6 percent on Tuesday in its heaviest trade since January 2014, after a 15 percent leap on Monday, was again the most active stock and fell 2.8 percent.
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