Doha: Qatar Exchange index dropped 98.58 points or 0.77 percent yesterday when the bourse closed trading at 12,756.98 points.
Indices of major sectors ended in the red, barring insurance which gained slightly by 0.02 percent when it closed at 3,794.41 points. Real estate sector dropped the most, down 0.78 percent to 2,511.9 points followed by the banking and financial sector, down 0.63 percent to 3,275.77 points.
The trading value decreased to QR716.4m from QR780.54m on Monday. The trading volume declined to 12,800,616 shares from 7,318 transactions compared to 13,548,109 shares from 7,402 transactions on Monday. Of the 43 companies listed, shares of 42 exchanged hands. From these, 24 declined, 16 gained and two remained unchanged.
Meanwhile, petrochemicals stocks led gains on Saudi Arabia’s bourse after an overnight rebound in oil prices encouraged the kingdom’s investors to buy back beaten-down stocks, while other Middle East markets were mixed.
Saudi Basic Industries (Sabic), the Gulf’s largest listed company and one of the world’s biggest petrochemicals producers, rose 0.9 percent. Two Sabic units, Saudi Arabia Fertilizers Co (Safco) and Yanbu National Petrochemical Co (Yansab), climbed 0.5 and 5.8 percent respectively.
These gains helped the petrochemicals index rise 1 percent from Monday’s 17-month low.
“Saudi petrochemical producers enjoy strong margins relative to their international peers because their feedstock prices are subsidised, but this advantage diminishes as oil prices fall,” said Asim Bukhtiar, head of research at Riyad Capital. “At the same time, petrochemical prices will also fall, so there are headwinds for the sector.” The benchmark ended 0.3 percent higher at 8,743 points, easing from an intraday high of 8,868 hit in early trade as renewed oil price weakness dented investors’ confidence.
Elsewhere, Egypt’s main benchmark fell for a third day, dropping 0.5 percent to trim its 2014 gains to 35.4 percent as 25 out of 30 stocks declined.
“The market has been seeing weakness since the start of the week - the regional sell-off affected sentiment here,” said Mohamed Radwan, director of international sales at Pharos Securities in Cairo. Foreign investors were net sellers, he said.
Oman’s benchmark climbed 2.5 percent to 6,594 points, rebounding from Monday’s 12-week low. “We saw almost no foreign institutional selling, which had been one of the main drivers for Oman’s drop in the previous 5-6 sessions,” said Adel Nasr, United Securities brokerage manager.
Yet local institutions, particularly pension funds and investment companies, had been aggressive buyers over the same period as they took advantage of lower stock prices, he said.
Bank Muscat and Omantel were the main supports, adding 2.7 and 4.5 percent respectively. Bourses in the UAE are closed for a national holiday.
HIGHLIGHTS
SAUDI ARABIA: The index climbed 0.3 percent to 8,743 points.
EGYPT: The index fell 0.5 percent to 9,187 points.
OMAN: The index rose 2.5 percent to 6,594 points.
KUWAIT: The index rose 0.4 percent to 6,783 points.
BAHRAIN: The index slipped 0.02 percent to 1,428 points.
Reuters
