Doha: Qatar Exchange pursued its upswing trend yesterday, adding 14.60 points, 0.12 percent, to advance to 11,900.38 points from Sunday’s close of 11,885.78 points.
The volume of the shares traded up at 13,423,010 from 10,385,181 on Sunday and the value of shares increased to QR598,576,475.87 from QR502,179,950.55 on Sunday.
Among the top gainers were Qatar National Bank, which was up 1.03 percent to close at QR196.40, Commercial Bank gained 0.67 percent to QR75.40, General Insurance added 3.05 percent to reach QR48.95 and National Leasing up by 5.17 percent to close at QR30.50.
The banking and financial sector index gained 0.30 percent, while consumer goods and services sector index lost 0.88 percent. The industrial sector added 0.88 percent, while insurance sector dropped 1.61 percent.
Elsewhere in the region, Saudi Arabia’s bourse rose to a 67-month high yesterday as investors shifted funds towards real estate shares, while most other regional markets closed on a positive note.
The Saudi real estate sector’s index gained 3.7 percent; developer Jabal Omar jumped 5.5 percent. Investors tend to shift from blue chips after earnings season towards other sectors that may have more upside.
The wider index climbed 0.4 percent to its highest level since July 2008.
Petrochemical shares edged up with Saudi Basic Industries Corp climbing 0.2 percent. “Saudi petchems are trading at reasonable valuations — they should do well in the medium term with good dividend support,” said Nitin Garg, petrochemical analyst at SICO Bahrain.
In the United Arab Emirates, Dubai’s bourse recovered sharp losses driven by profit-taking to end flat at 4,124 points, bouncing from an intra-day low of 4,026 points.
“Based on how fast the market has been going up, we need a correction for the long-term uptrend to be sustainable,” said Bruce Powers, technical analyst and president at WideVision. Any close below last week’s low of 4,098 points would increase the chance of a significant pull-back, he added.
Abu Dhabi’s bourse came off lows to gain 0.2 percent. After soaring in the past 12 months it is now moving sideways, and Powers expects it to remain choppy for the time being.
Kuwait’s bourse retreated 0.5 percent, slumping to its lowest level since January 19 in its fourth straight loss, ahead of a three-day public holiday.
Kuwait-listed shares in Bahraini firm Gulf Finance House slipped 1.6 percent, although the company posted fourth-quarter net profit that more than doubled. Its Bahrain-listed shares tumbled 6.5 percent.
Cairo’s benchmark advanced 0.5 percent, closing above the psychologically important level of 8,000 points for a second session.
QNA & Reuters
