Doha: Qatar Exchange pursued its upswing trend yesterday, adding 4.52 points (or 0.05 percent) to advance to 8,426.78 points from 8,422.26 on Thursday. Among the top gainers were Commercial Bank which was up 0.16 percent to QR132.80, Doha Bank rose 1.25 percent to QR44.60, UDC gained 1.06 percent to QR17.18 and Qatar Navigation was up by 0.83 percent to QR60.50.
The banking and financial sector index lost 0.12 points, the consumer goods and services sector index added 0.37 points, the industrial sector gained 0.08 points while the insurance sector dropped 0.65 points.
Meanwhile, most regional bourses ended higher, buoyed by positive global cues, but trading was mostly quiet as many investors awaited first-quarter earnings before committing more funds.
Kuwait’s index hit a 29-month closing high as traders sold blue chips to buy into more liquid small-cap stocks. The benchmark rose 0.6 percent; it is up 26 percent from November’s eight-year low. “Since the beginning of the year, the market has been dominated by day traders and speculators - every little sell-off is inviting new entrants to the market, building it higher,” said Fouad Darwish, head of brokerage at Global Investment House.
Investors’ focus on small-cap companies has created, for now, a virtuous circle for these stocks - their high liquidity attracts new investors, which increases liquidity. Among losers in Kuwait were telecommunications operator Zain and Boubyan Bank, which dropped 1.4 and 1.6 percent.
Meanwhile, Oman’s index suffered its largest decline in three weeks as disappointment over Bank Sohar’s earnings triggered a market-wide sell-off. Bank Sohar fell 3.1 percent. Oman’s fifth-largest listed bank posted a 14.1 percent rise in first-quarter profit, not as much as analysts had hoped.
Last week, Bank Muscat and National Bank of Oman both reported below-forecast earnings. Their shares dropped 1.4 and 1.8 percent on Sunday. “Bank Sohar’s results were below expectations and triggered strong selling in the market,” said Adel Nasr, United Securities brokerage manager in Oman. The Omani index fell 0.9 percent, its fourth straight decline. About 15.7 million shares trade, a two-month low.
Saudi Arabia’s index ended nearly flat, reversing its early declines, which were spurred by poor quarterly earnings from blue chip petrochemical firms. The benchmark added 0.01 percent. Shares in Saudi International Petrochemical Co (Sipchem) slumped 1.1 percent after the company’s first-quarter profit more than halved.
QNA/Reuters
