Doha: Qatar Exchange pursued its upswing trend yesterday adding 55.75 points (0.49 percent) to advance to 11,361.62 points from 11,305.87 on Sunday.
The benchmark up for a fourth consecutive session to hit a 66-month high.
The volume of the shares traded up to 19,697,807 from 13,066,700 on Sunday and the value of shares increased to QR774,811,214.06 from QR580,164,067.00 on Sunday.
Among the top gainers were Qatar National Bank, which was up 2.04 percent to QR185.10, Qatar Islamic gained 1.29 percent to QR78.60, International Islamic Bank added 3.42 percent to QR72.50 and Vodafone Qatar up by 3.07 percent to QR12.10.
The Banking and Financial sector index added 1.17 points while Consumer Goods and Services sector index up 0.01 points. The industrial sector lost 0.06 points while insurance sector rose 0.16 points.
Meanwhile, Dubai’s shares surged above a psychologically important level yesterday as heavy retail activity continued amid positive earnings expectations, while other Gulf bourses were mixed and Egypt climbed to a new 45-month high.
Dubai’s index rose 1.3 percent to 4,026 points, closing above the 4,000 level for the first time in five years and adding to the bullish retail investor sentiment.
“The market is driven by retail; foreign investors will get more active and chase blue chips but maybe (only) after the MSCI inclusion,” said Sebastien Henin, head of asset management at The National Investor.
Index compiler MSCI has upgraded UAE and Qatar to emerging market status, which will be implemented in late May and potentially bring in about $500m worth of passive funds to each country.
Currently, local investors are trading heavily in small-caps, while anticipating earnings from many of the listed firms in the coming days.
Abu Dhabi’s measure rose 1.5 percent to a new five-year high.
Egypt’s benchmark index rose for a fourth straight session, up 0.4 percent to 7,488 points, to its highest level since April 2010. But some players think the rally might be running out of steam.
“Money rotation is taking place — we need another wave of fresh funds or the critical level of 7,500 could become a resistance,” said Mohamed Radwan, director of international sales at Pharos Securities.
The Oman index edged up 0.09 percent to 7,160 points, while Saudi index ticked up 0.09 percent to close at 8,874 points.
The Kuwait index slipped 0.3 percent to 7,842 points, while the Bahrain index gained 0.3 percent to reach 1,314 points yesterday.
QNA/Reuters
