Doha: Qatar Exchange index added 5.18 points, or 0.05 percent, yesterday to reach 10,371.39 points from the previous closing of 10,366.21 points on Monday.
The volume of traded shares was down to 9,193,522 from Monday’s 9,193,522 and the value of shares decreased to QR268,195,427.97 from QR 268,195,427.97 on Monday.
Among the top gainers were International Islamic Bank whose share down 0.65 percent to QR61.10, Doha Insurance whose share lost 0.39 percent to QR25.40, Al Khalij Commercial Bank fell 0.50 percent to QR19.83 and Qatar Insurance decreased by 1.03 percent to QR67.
The Banking and Financial sector index was down 0.08 percent while Consumer Goods and Services sector index gained 0.30 percent. The industrial sector was up 0.17 percent points while insurance sector fell 0.62 percent
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s bourse dropped yesterday as concerns over local real estate sector triggered a market-wide sell-off that analysts say could be the start of investors shifting to more attractive opportunities in neighbouring property sectors.
Shares in Dar Al Arkan tumbled 7.5 percent and its peers also fell, which pushed the real estate sector index down 3.2 percent.
The main benchmark, which hit a five-year high on November 18, fell 1.3 percent to trim year-to-date gains to 21 percent and it’s lowest closing level since November 6. “The correction is across the board — the market was reading into talks about property projects being cancelled since 2010 in Saudi Arabia,” said John Sfakianakis, chief investment strategist at Saudi investment firm MASIC.
Sfakianakis said investors were looking for a trigger to book recent gains and that there is no evidence of a pull-back in projects with hundreds in billions of dollars being spent in 2013 alone on new projects. Banking shares were also hit by profit-taking with the sector losing 1.2 percent.
Hesham Tuffaha, a Riyadh-based fund manager, said that valuations of Saudi property stocks are not attractive compared to regional stocks after Dubai was chosen to host the World Expo 2020 and the expectations of increased real estate projects.
In Dubai, the index gained 0.3 percent to a fresh five-year high. It recouped early-session losses as a bout of profit-taking proved short-lived. The market is up 83.3 percent year-to-date.
Shares in Union Properties jumped five percent and thinly traded heavyweight lender Mashreq surged 13.5 percent.
Agencies
