DOHA: Qatar Exchange (QE) index witnessed another up day yesterday, as the benchmark index extended the bull-run to the 11th straight day, but with a lowest gain in the week. With the support of the Industrials and Banks & Financial Services, the benchmark measure was up 0.29 percent to close 11,051 points. The gain was led by QNB, Al Khalij Commercial Bank and Gulf International.
Market capitalisation rose over QR583bn against the prior trading session’s QR580bn.Traded volume crossed 11 million shares, valued at QR642m.
Of the 41 traded companies, 23 stocks declined, 12 advanced and six remained unchanged.
Yesterday’s relatively smaller gain may be an indication that the bourse’s forward momentum is slowing down, analysts said.
Four out of seven sector indices ended in red yesterday with the Insurance dropping the most by 0.69 percent. Consumer goods lost 0.27 percent and Transportation 0.45 percent. Telecoms dropped 0.32 percent.
Industrials sector was up by 1.15 percent and the Banks and Financial Services added 0.40 percent. Real Estate was up by 0.05 percent.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s stock market rose for a fourth consecutive session yesterday, to levels last seen before the 2011 revolution, as the country voted on a referendum that is a key step in its planned transition back to civilian rule. Gulf markets were mixed as some investors took profits.
Cairo’s benchmark index climbed 1.1 percent to close at 7,196 points, a fresh three-year high. During the day it rose as high as 7,258 points, eclipsing the January 2011 peak of 7,248 points, but it fell back before the close, leaving that major technical resistance unbroken.
Presidential elections will follow if the two-day referendum approves a new constitution as expected, and a positive result could lead to a presidential bid by army chief General Abdel Fattah Al Sisi.
The market’s sizeable intra-day pull-back, however, suggested the political euphoria may be close to running its course for now, with the market up about 50 percent since Islamist president Mohammed Mursi was overthrown last July.
“The market has had a good run in the past six months and has largely priced in the political transition that we’re going to see in the next few months,” said Simon Kitchen, director of regional strategy and research at EFG-Hermes in Cairo.
Kitchen said further gains would depend more on improvement of the economy than on political developments.
Trade in the Egyptian market was very heavy though volume was down slightly from Sunday’s level, which was the highest since September 2012.
In Dubai, shares in builder Arabtec jumped 5.5 percent to Dh3.09, a 63-month high, after the firm said one of its units was awarded a Dh2.59bn ($705b) construction contract on Abu Dhabi’s Al Reem Island.
Investors have been hoping that Arabtec will win more Abu Dhabi business after the company replaced its chief executive last year in a shake-up led by Abu Dhabi fund Aabar, its largest shareholder, which has been tightening its control of the group.
The stock faces major technical resistance in the Dh2.97-3.16 area, the peaks in February 2012 and November 2009; an initial test of this area last week failed.
The Peninsula/Reuters
