(MENAFN- Gulf Times) The Arab individuals and the Gulf funds were increasingly net buyers amidst an overall bearish overhang in the Qatar Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
Notwithstanding the buying interests at the insurance and telecom counters, the 20-stock Qatar Index settled 74 points or 0.68% lower at 10,839.93 points, having touched an intraday high of 10,912 points.
The Islamic index was seen declining slower than the main index in the bourse, whose year-to-date gains were at 3.87%.
The domestic institutions' net selling pressure substantially weakened in the market, whose capitalisation saw more than QR4bn or 0.68% decline to QR626.06bn, mainly owing to mid and microcap segments.
A higher than average selling pressure was seen in the industrials sector in the bourse, where the Gulf individuals were seen bullish, albeit at lower levels.
About 62% of the traded constituents were in the red in the market, which saw a total of 235,032 exchange traded funds (Masraf Al Rayan sponsored QATR and Doha Bank sponsored QETF) valued at QR2.26mn changed hands across 30 deals; while in the debt market, there was no trading of sovereign bonds and treasury bills.
The Total Return Index shrank 0.64% to 21,458.29 points, All Share Index by 0.54% to 3,425.97 points and Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) by 0.57% to 2,519.83 points.
The industrials sector index tanked 1.12%, consumer goods and services (0.52%), banks and financial services (0.46%), real estate (0.3%) and transport (0.22%); whereas insurance and telecom gained 0.18% and 0.06% respectively.
Major losers included Industries Qatar, Ooredoo, Baladna, Qatar Industrial Manufacturing, Al Khaleej Takaful, Mannai Corporation, QIIB, Qatar First Bank, Woqod, Aamal Company, Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance; even as Investment Holding Group, Vodafone Qatar, Gulf International Services, Salam International Investment and Qatari German Medical Devices were among the gainers.
The foreign institutions' net buying declined significantly to QR0.43mn against QR65.68mn on April 20.
Local retail investors' net buying shrank notably to QR14.24mn compared to QR30.83mn the previous day.
However, the Arab individuals' net buying increased markedly to QR24.45mn against QR13.32mn on Tuesday.
The Gulf institutions' net buying strengthened perceptibly to QR9.3mn compared to QR7.71mn on April 20.
The Gulf individuals turned net buyers to the tune of QR0.53mn against net sellers of QR11.06mn the previous day.
The Arab funds were net buyers to the extent of QR0.03mn compared with no major net exposure on Tuesday.
Domestic funds' net profit booking weakened substantially to QR48.95mn against QR98.94mn on April 20.
The foreign individuals' net selling shed noticeably to QR0.21mn compared to QR7.54mn the previous day.
Total trade volume lost 41% to 304.16mn shares, value by 37% to QR531.52mn and transactions by 21% to 10,827.
The transport sector reported 58% plunge in trade volume to 3.68mn equities, 54% in value to QR13.34mn and 16% in deals to 357.
The consumer goods and services sector's trade volume plummeted 57% to 105.35mn stocks, value by 50% to QR130.11mn and transactions by 30% to 2,616.
There was 49% shrinkage in the insurance sector's trade volume to 5.64mn shares, 57% in value to QR14.44mn and 24% in deals to 358.
The banks and financial services sector's trade volume tanked 45% to 33.1mn equities, value by 41% to QR130.5mn and transactions by 33% to 2,816.
The industrials sector saw 24% contraction in trade volume to 107.46mn stocks, 17% in value to QR154.76mn and 13% in deals to 2,651.
The real estate sector's trade volume shrank 15% to 38.98mn shares and value by 32% to QR62.42mn, while transactions were up 4% to 1,313.
However, the market witnessed a 56% surge in the telecom sector's trade volume to 10.04mn equities, 55% in value to QR25.94mn and 27% in deals to 716.
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