Doha: Qatar Exchange pursued its upswing trend yesterday, adding 48.60 points (or 0.55 percent) to advance to 8,834.13 points from 8,785.53 on Sunday.
The volume of the shares traded fell to 10,730,806 from 11,050,593 on Sunday and the value of shares decreased to QR335,801,098.51 from QR338,937,355.54 on Sunday.
Among the top gainers were Qatar National Bank which was up 2.84 percent to QR141.00, Commercial Bank of Qatar rose 1.21 percent to QR66.90, Qatar Telecom gained 0.78 percent to QR116.20 and Qatar Insurance was up by 2.84 percent to QR58.00.
Qatar’s stocks have lagged rises on other Gulf bourses — the main index is up only 5.7 percent this year, compared to gains of well over 20 percent for Dubai and Kuwait — so they are considered cheap by some analysts.
The Qatar Exchange announced it would stage a major conference on Wednesday to discuss listing more private companies, which could mark a fresh initiative by authorities to deepen the market and stimulate sluggish trading activity.
Meanwhile, a recent stock market rally in Dubai and Kuwait stalled yesterday as investor’s locked in profits but underlying sentiment towards two of the region’s strongest performing markets remains buoyant.
Dubai’s measure fell 0.9 percent, down from Sunday’s 41-month high. Real estate and banking shares weighed; Heavyweight Emaar Properties shed 0.7 percent.
“The whole market is taking a breather today,” said Marwan Shurrab, vice-president and chief trader at Gulfmena Investments. “We had a strong move since the beginning of the month and the correction is very small and logical.”
In Kuwait, large-caps declined while the index ended flat in choppy trade. The market has closed in positive territory for 12 consecutive sessions and is at its highest level since October 2009.
Seven of the 10 largest stocks by market capitalisation retreated, with Commercial Bank of Kuwait slipping 1.4 percent.
A stabilising political backdrop and the government’s promises it will act to support the economy have propelled sentiment in Kuwait. The finance minister said last month that the government would spend $15.8-17.5bn on development projects in the next 12 months.
“People have to take some money off so they can put it back in — larger stocks went up in anticipation of better earnings,” said Fouad Darwish, head of brokerage services at Global Investment House.
Banks represent more than 50 percent of Kuwait’s overall market value. The recent rise in the stock market has helped them because they have extended loans backed by stocks as collateral, Darwish added. “The entire sentiment has become positive just on expectations for banks to improve their earnings.”
In Saudi Arabia, weak sentiment towards leading sectors — banks and petrochemicals —persisted. The index slipped 0.2 percent, down for a second session since Saturday’s three-week high.
Petrochemical shares index shed 0.4 percent and banking index dipped 0.1 percent.
Boosted by strong earnings growth, cement shares that have helped limit declines on the market in recent weeks. The sector slipped 0.5 percent from a five-year high, trimming 2013 gains to 12 percent, but they outstrip the wider market’s 5.7 percent rise.
QNA/Reuters
