Foreign institutions continued to be net buyers, albeit with lesser intensity, as the Qatar Stock Exchange on Wednesday gained 29 points to close near 9,000 levels.

Heavy demand, especially for telecom and banking scrips, led the 20-stock Qatar Index gain 0.32% to 8,950.6 points.

Masraf Al Rayan and Doha Bank exchange traded funds QATR and QETF however reported 0.55% and 0.12% declines respectively.

Local retail investors’ weakened net selling also had its say in the market, which is up 5.01% year-to-date.

Buying was more pronounced within mid and large cap segments in the bourse, whose capitalisation grew 0.18% to QR495.73bn.

Trade turnover and volumes were on the decline in the market, where telecom and banking sectors together accounted for about 65% of the total volume.

The Total Return Index rose 0.32% to 15,769.97 points, All Share Index by 0.19% to 2,626.56 points and Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) by 0.09% to 2,204.97 points.

The telecom index soared 1.78%, banks and financial services (0.84%), insurance (0.17%), transport (0.09%) and consumer goods (0.07%); whereas realty and industrials declined 1.2% and 0.63% respectively.

Major gainers included Aamal Company, Vodafone Qatar, Ooredoo, Qatar Insurance, Qatar Islamic Bank, Mazaya Qatar, Gulf Warehousing and Milaha; even as Doha Bank, Qatar Oman Investment, Qatari German Company for Medical Devices, Industries Qatar, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Ezdan and Nakilat were among the losers.

Non-Qatari funds’ net buying weakened marginally to QR111.54mn compared to QR124.25mn the previous day.

Local individual investors’ net selling declined significantly to QR61.52mn against QR104.35mn on May 15.

The Gulf institutions’ net selling strengthened considerably to QR33.51mn compared to QR23.86mn on Tuesday.

Domestic institutions turned net sellers to the tune of QR14.84mn against net buyers of QR2.66mn the previous day.

Non-Qatari individuals’ net profit booking grew perceptibly to QR1.13mn compared to QR0.45mn on May 15.

The Gulf individuals turned net sellers to the extent of QR0.57mn against net buyers of QR1.71mn on Tuesday.

Total trade volume fell 27% to 8.34mn shares, value by 41% to QR298.63mn and transactions by 34% to 4,034.

The transport sector reported 69% plunge in trade volume to 0.92mn equities, 67% in value to QR15.27mn and 65% in deals to 497.

The real estate sector’s trade volume plummeted 53% to 0.53mn stocks, value by 55% to QR6.29mn and transactions by 37% to 282.

The market witnessed 48% shrinkage in the insurance sector’s trade volume to 0.16mn shares, 47% in value to QR5.77mn and 32% in deals to 114.

The banks and financial services sector’s trade volume tanked 37% to 2.1mn equities, value by 42% to QR168.6mn and transactions by 29% to 1,672. There was 28% decline in the industrials sector’s trade volume to 1.06mn stocks, 46% in value to QR52.23mn and 19% in deals to 803.

The consumer goods sector’s trade volume shrank 21% to 0.23mn shares and value by 27% to QR11.6mn, while transactions were up 1% to 169.

However, the telecom sector saw 84% surge in trade volume to 3.3mn equities and 45% in value to QR38.88mn but on 14% fall in deals to 497.

In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills, while as many as 30,000 sovereign bonds valued at QR297mn changed hands across one transaction.

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