Doha: Qatar Exchange index dipped by 85 points, or 0.86 percent, to 9,785.90 points from the previous closing of 9,870.90 points.
The volume of the shares fell to 3,105,746 from 6,459,146 on Thursday and the value of shares decreased to QR157,373,972.36 from QR319,222,967.97 on Thursday.
Among the top losers were Industries Qatar whose share dropped 0.91 percent to QR152.20, Commercial Bank of Qatar lost 1.15 percent to QR68.50, Qatar Islamic Bank fell 0.72 percent to QR68.50 and Electricity and Water down by 1.94 percebnt to QR156.90.
The Banking and Financial sector index dropped 0.64 points while Consumer Goods and Services sector index down 0.26 points. The industrial sector was lost 0.88 points while insurance sector fell 0.12 points.
“Renewed talk that the Fed could be slowing down the stimulus and the US markets are affecting us — foreigners are cutting positions,” says Yassir Mckee, wealth manager at Al Rayan Financial Brokerage in Doha. “Some are selling now to show cash on the books, because it’s almost the end of the third quarter.”
Mckee said speculation that state-run Qatar Petroleum might list its units on the exchange was prompting some local investors to sell stocks and hold cash in order to buy into a possible initial public offer that could come as early as October.
Hussain Al Abdulla, executive board member of Qatar Holding, the investment arm of the country’s sovereign wealth fund, said in May that Qatar Petroleum planned to offer shares in four of its units in coming years.
A multi-billion dollar IPO of Doha Global Investment Co, a new $12 billion investment firm backed by assets from Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, appears to have been shelved because of technical challenges and, perhaps, Qatar’s change of government in June. So there is speculation that to develop the stock market, the new government may proceed with the Qatar Petroleum IPOs, which might prove simpler and more straightforward.
Meanwhile, renewed worries about the possibility of US monetary tightening caused most Gulf stock markets to drop yesterday, while Egypt rose on the back of an interest rate cut by its central bank.
Like other markets around the world, Gulf bourses rose last week in response to the US Federal Reserve’s surprise decision to maintain its monetary stimulus. But on Friday, St Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard said in an interview on Bloomberg TV that a start to winding down the stimulus was possible in October, depending on economic data.
So the euphoria surrounding last week’s Fed decision is fading quickly. Although the booming Gulf is less vulnerable than most regions to tighter US monetary policy, its markets are near multi-year peaks that were hit in August, leaving them vulnerable to profit-taking.
In Dubai, the index gained 0.6 percent to 2,681 points, a near four-week high, as buyers returned after a dip early in the day. The market faces major technical resistance on its August peak of 2,762 points.
Egypt’s bourse rose to a fresh five-week high as local investors bargain-hunted, and as Thursday’s 0.5 percentage point cut in official interest rates helped sentiment.
Shares in Arabia Cotton Ginning jumped 9.9 percent to 5.22 Egyptian pounds, their highest since November 2010, after the firm said it was looking to add real estate as a business line and was waiting for approvals to sell some of the land it owns.
Agencies
