Acerbic Fed rate hike weighs on QSE as index drops 114 points

Acerbic Fed rate hike weighs on QSE as index drops 114 points

Reflecting the global turmoil brought about by a sharp 75 basis points hike in the US rates, the Qatar Stock Exchange on Thursday fell more than 114 points and capitalisation eroded QR6bn.

An across the board selling, particularly at the telecom, industrials and real estate counters, led the 20-stock Qatar Index to decline 0.9% to 12,643.8 points, although it touched an intraday high of 12,829 points.

The Gulf institutions were seen increasingly net profit takers in the market, whose year-to-date gains truncated to 8.76%.

About 78% of the traded constituents were in the red in the bourse, whose capitalisation eroded QR5.9bn or 0.84% to QR699.84bn, mainly on the back of midcap segments.

The Islamic index declined faster than the other indices in the market, which saw a total of 0.05mn exchange traded funds (sponsored by Masraf Al Rayan and Doha Bank) valued at QR0.54mn changed hands across 17 deals.

Trade turnover and volumes were on the increase in the main market; whereas it was on the decline in the venture market.

The domestic institutions turned bearish in the bourse, which saw no trading of sovereign bonds.

The Gulf individuals were increasingly into net selling, albeit at lower levels, in the market, which saw no trading of treasury