Doha: Qatar Exchange pursued its upswing trend yesterday, adding 76.92 points, or 0.67 percent, to advance to 11,639.79 points from 11,562.87 on Sunday.
The bourse made significant gains on the back of blue chips and stocks that will pay 2013 dividends in early April, such as Widam Food Co and Barwa Real Estate.
The volume of the shares traded up at 18,377,364 from 13,012,773 from Sunday and the value of shares increased to QR794,083,692.63 from QR606,105,817.72 on Sunday.
Among the top gainers were Qatar National Bank, which was up 1.90 percent to QR187.60, Industries Qatar gained 1.69 percent to QR186.40, International Islamic Bank added 1.12 percent to QR11.85 and Vodafone Qatar was up by 0.08 percent to QR12.60.
The banking and financial sector index gained 1.03 percent, while consumer goods and services sector index was up 0.33 percent. The industrial sector added 0.98 percent, while insurance sector dropped 0.63 percent.
In the region, Egypt’s bourse posted its biggest percentage loss in seven months yesterday as local investors continued to book profits on positions built in anticipation of former army chief Abdel Fattah Al Sisi’s run for president.
The main Cairo index tumbled 3.6 percent to 7,805 points, dropping for a third session in a row, as all but two of its 30 consituent stocks closed in the red and trading volume surged again after declining on Sunday.
The market has dropped 8 percent over three days. It is still up 15.1 percent year-to-date. When Sisi finally did announce his candidacy last week, investors started booking profits; the move was amplified by an earnings report by EFG Hermes, which swung to a net loss in 2013 because of one-off charges. “In this case I think we need to rely on some technical guidance,” said Chamel Fahmy of Cairo-based HC Securities and Investment. “Most technical analysts see 7,800 points as a key support level.”
Also among the sellers was private equity firm Actis, which sold shares in Commercial International Bank “in the open market to a group of international investors”, the bank said. The bank’s shares fell 4.2 percent.
Actis, which bought into Egypt’s biggest listed bank in July 2009 when it traded at less than a half of yesterday’s closing price, sold shares equivalent to 2.6 percent of the bank but retains a stake of 6.5 percent and a seat on the board, CIB said.
In the Gulf, Oman’s index fell 0.8 percent largely because of Raysut Cement, which dropped 3.5 percent as its shares went ex-dividend. NBK Capital last week reiterated its “sell” recommendation on the stock, saying Raysut had direct exposure “to the massively oversupplied UAE market” and also to very volatile export markets such as the Horn of Africa and Yemen.
Bahrain’s benchmark rose 0.9 percent as Ahli United Bank started recovering from its ex-dividend slump, adding 2 percent.
QNA & Reuters
