Doha: Qatar Stock Exchange index was slightly down by 32.20 points, or 0.23 percent, when trading closed at 13,723.54 points yesterday.
The market capitalisation decreased to QR741.990bn from QR743.671bn registered on Tuesday. The trading value dropped to QR667.777m from QR870.835m on Tuesday.
The trading volume dropped to 11,360,746 shares from 6,412 transactions compared to 14,285,139 shares from 9,069 transactions on Tuesday.
Indices of four sectors ended in red with industries declining the most, 0.63 percent, and three in green yesterday. Consumer goods sector gained the most, up 0.40 percent followed by real estate 0.30 percent.
From the 43 listed companies, shares of 20 went up, 18 declined and four remained unchanged.
Gulf Warehousing Company was the top mover yesterday in terms of percentage gain, up 3.19 percent to QR61.50 while Islamic Holding share gained most in terms of price rise, up 2.24 percnet to QR187, a rise by QR4.10.
All real estate companies maid fair gains yesterday. United Development Company’s share was up 1.52 percent to QR26.80. Barwa was slightly up 0.20 percent to QR50.10 and Mazaya Qatar gained 1.20 percent to reach QR24.44.
Meanwhile, shares in Saudi Arabia’s biggest lender, National Commercial Bank, jumped their daily 10 percent limit upon listing yesterday after a $6bn IPO, the largest ever in the Arab world and the second-biggest globally this year.
Completing the initial public offer last week, state-owned NCB said the $3.6bn portion for retail investors was 23 times subscribed, with a total of 1.25 million subscribers — roughly one in every 16 Saudi citizens — taking part.
Demand for the IPO, at a fixed price of 45 riyals per share, was huge partly because Saudi authorities tend to price initial offers of equity cheaply, using them to spread corporate wealth among citizens.
Institutional investors were not allowed to take part in the offer and will have to buy the stock, which looks certain to become a staple in most Saudi Arabia-focused portfolios, on the secondary market.
The stock opened yesterday at SR49.5, with a massive amount of unfilled buy orders that came close to equalling the bourse’s total trading volume on a normal day.
Bahrain-based Securities & Investment Co rated NCB a “high conviction buy” with a target price of SR72, citing its outlook for strong balance sheet growth and sustainable margins. Based on listed Saudi banks’ median price to 2013 earnings ratio, NCB would be worth about 76 riyals.
Most IPO investors are likely to wait until the stock trades at higher levels before selling, which will take three or four days, said Maged Ali Hasan, head of brokerage services at EFG-Hermes in Riyadh.
The Saudi market as a whole fared much less well on Wednesday. The main index was almost flat as a number of stocks pulled back, including several other banks; Saudi British Bank lost 2.1 percent and Samba Financial fell 0.8 percent.
Elsewhere in the region, markets in the United Arab Emirates slipped after posting strong gains in the last few sessions.
Dubai’s index edged down 0.2 percent as contractor Arabtec Holding, the most traded stock, gave up early-session gains and fell 0.2 percent.
Abu Dhabi state fund Aabar Investments raised its stake in Arabtec to 34.93 percent from 18.94 percent with an off-market trade on Tuesday. It bought the shares from former Arabtec chief executive Hasan Ismaik, who resigned abruptly in June.
Agencies
