Qatar: Domestic funds’ increased net selling drags QSE 18 points

Qatar: Domestic funds’ increased net selling drags QSE 18 points

Qatar - Ahead of the Eid al-Fitr holidays, the Qatar Stock Exchange on Thursday lost another 18 points, dragged down by selling pressure, especially in the telecom and insurance sectors.

The domestic institutions were increasingly net profit takers as the 20-stock Qatar Index shrank 0.18% to 9,930.33 points.

The market moved in a rollercoaster fashion with the index touching an intraday low of 9,907 points, even as it hit a high of 9,945 points.

The foreign retail investors turned net sellers in the main market, whose year-to-date losses widened to 7.03%.

The foreign individual investors’ weakened net buying had its influence on the main bourse, whose capitalisation was seen eroding QR2.13bn or 0.37% to QR576.25bn, mainly on account of small and microcap segments.

However, the local individuals turned increasingly net buyers in the main market, which saw a total of 0.05mn exchange traded funds (sponsored by Masraf Al Rayan and Doha Bank) valued at QR0.25mn changed hands across 11 deals.

The Gulf funds were also increasingly bullish in the main bourse, which saw no trading of sovereign bonds.

The Islamic index was seen declining faster than the main index in the main market, which saw no trading of treasury bills.

The Total Return Index was down 0.18%, the