The Qatar Stock Exchange on Sunday witnessed five of the seven sectors under bearish spell but overall it settled marginally higher amidst weakened volumes.

Non-Qatari and Gulf individuals as well as domestic funds were seen bullish as the 20-stock Qatar Index settled 0.2% higher at 10,253.69 points.

The weakened net selling pressure among local retail investors also helped the market, whose key benchmark closed 0.44% lower year-to-date.

Market capitalisation saw more than QR1bn, or 0.2%, addition to QR565.3bn mainly owing to microcap segments.

Islamic equities were seen gaining faster than the other indices in the market, where foreign institutions continued to be net buyers but with lesser intensity.

Trade turnover and volumes were on the decline in the bourse, where the real estate, banking and industrials sectors together accounted for about 85% of the total volume.

The Total Return Index gained 0.2% to 18,867.65 points and the Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) by 0.41% to 2,311.65 points, while the All Share Index was down 0.01 to 3,004.42 points.

The industrials index gained 1.17% and banks and financial services (0.32%); while insurance declined 2.49%, realty (2.3%), transport (0.98%), telecom (0.58%) and consumer goods (0.1%).

Major gainers included Qatar Islamic Bank, Industries Qatar, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance, QNB and Dlala; even as Commercial Bank, QIIB, Alijarah Holing, Medicare Group, Qatar Insurance, Al Khaleej Takaful, Ezdan, Barwa, Ooredoo, Gulf Warehousing and Milaha were among the losers.

Non-Qatari individuals were net buyers to the tune of QR2.74mn against net profit takers of QR5.07mn on August 29.

Domestic funds were also net buyers to the extent of QR1.59mn compared with net sellers of QR8.62mn last Thursday.

Gulf individuals turned net buyers to the tune of QR1.13mn against net sellers of QR5.16mn the previous trading day.

Local retail investors’ net profit booking declined noticeably to QR22.51mn compared to QR30.82mn on August 29.

However, non-Qatari institutions’ net buying declined significantly to QR8.59mn against QR39.59mn last Thursday.

Gulf funds’ net buying also weakened perceptibly to QR8.45mn compared to QR9.48mn the previous trading day.

Total trade volume fell 33% to 61.42mn shares, value by 52% to QR157.31mn and transactions by 31% to 4,987.

The telecom sector’s trade volume plummeted 67% to 2.28mn equities, value by 67% to QR5.33mn and deals by 51% to 256.

The banks and financial services sector saw a 59% plunge in trade volume to 15.42mn stocks, 56% in value to QR76.07mn and 45% in transactions to 1,522.

The consumer goods sector’s trade volume tanked 56% to 2.06mn shares, value by 69% to QR11.5mn and deals by 53% to 277.

The transport sector reported a 55% shrinkage in trade volume to 2.6mn equities, 51% in value to QR6.96mn and 48% in transactions to 175.

There was a 35% decline in the insurance sector’s trade volume to 2.5mn stocks, 27% in value to QR6.9mn and 47% in deals to 192.

The industrials sector’s trade volume shrank 33% to 11.23mn shares, value by 48% to QR28.72mn and transactions by 23% to 1,364.

However, the market witnessed a 55% surge in the real estate sector’s trade volume to 25.34mn equities, 17% in value to QR21.82mn and 40% in deals to 1,201.

In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and sovereign bonds.

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