Doha: Qatar Exchange pursued its gaining streak yesterday adding 70.06 points, or 0.73 percent to advance to 9,698.36 points from 9,628.30 on Tuesday.
The volume of the shares traded was up at 5,786,686 from 3,819,359 on Tuesday and the value of shares increased to QR258,113,221.12 from QR164,167,526.45 on Tuesday.
Among the top gainers were Industries Qatar which was up 0.13 percent to QR152.30, Commercial Bank of Qatar gained 0.73 percent to QR68.90, Doha Bank gained 1.12 percent to QR54.30 and Masraf Al Rayan rose by 1.04 percent to QR29.05.
Third-quarter earnings are expected to be reported in the next few weeks.
“There is huge caution on Qatari banks going into reporting,” said a Doha-based fund manager, who asked not to be identified due to company policy. “More bad news could surface than good. But analysts are aware of what’s happening so I don’t expect much downside.”
Non-Qatari investors were net buyers of shares yesterday, bourse data showed.
The Banking and Financial sector index added 0.41 points while Consumer Goods and Services sector index was up 0.93 points. The industrial sector gained 0.55 points while insurance sector rose 0.82 points.
Meanwhile, shares in Dubai Financial Market (DFM) soared yesterday, pulling up many other stocks in the emirate, after Reuters reported experts had been hired to advise on a possible merger between the Gulf’s only listed bourse and the Abu Dhabi Exchange.
DFM, which had already seen its stock price double this year as Dubai’s recovery from its 2009-2010 corporate debt crisis revived share trading, jumped its daily 15 percent limit to Dh2.34, its highest level since November 2009. Turnover in the stock spiked to its heaviest since June 3 this year.
Retail traders dumped some of their recent favourite shares in order to shift to DFM; Gulf Navigation dropped 7.1 percent. But the positive sentiment buoyed many shares, with real estate blue chip Emaar Properties up 3.5 percent and Dubai Investments surging 15 percent.
Dubai’s main index rose 2.7 percent to 2,830 points, a fresh five-year high, breaking chart resistance at 2,762 points, the August peak. The index is now up 74 percent year-to-date.
Outside Dubai, investors were generally cautious, partly because of the uncertain global backdrop after the US government shutdown. Abu Dhabi’s index climbed only 0.6 percent.
Saudi Arabia’s benchmark was flat for the day. Petrochemical shares added 0.3 percent but these gains were offset by profit-taking in the retail sector, where the index lost 1.0 percent.
In Kuwait, the index slipped 0.1 percent but blue chips gained, continuing a recent pattern. The Kuwait 15 , made up mainly of blue chips, rose 0.4 percent.
“The investors are going to follow stocks which have been consistent in their dividend distributions and are expected to announce sound financials,” said Fouad Darwish, head of brokerage services at Global Investment House.
Reuters
