DOHA: Heavy profit taking by local institutional investors pulled Qatar stocks down yesterday, reversing the bourse’s strong positive performance in the previous session. The benchmark index slid 1.49 percent to finish at 14,136 and QR10bn wiped off from the market as the market cap declined to QR752bn.
The Standard and Poor’s Dow Jones will upgrade Qatar Exchange from Frontier market to Emerging today.
Barring marginal gains by the consumer stocks, the entire sector indices ended in red. Total traded volume fell to 16 million shares from 28 million and total value declined to QR604m from QR934m.
The banking and financial services was the main drag. The banking stock’s value plunged to QR214m from QR319m. The value of industrials declined to QR70m from QR101m. Property-related stocks plunged to QR206m from QR407m.
Shares in Industries Qatar fell 1.36 percent after the company said it had put its multi-billion-dollar Al Sejeel petrochemical project on hold and was studying a new scheme instead that would yield better returns.
Most markets pulled back in the region after strong gains. Stock markets in the United Arab Emirates pulled back yesterday, while Saudi Arabia’s property stocks fell after the government began looking into a tax on unused land.
Dubai’s main index slipped 0.2 percent as lenders Emirates NBD and Dubai Islamic Bank fell 0.5 and 0.6 percent respectively.
The bourse gained 2.3 percent last Thursday as foreign funds bought into local stocks en masse ahead of changes in the composition of the FTSE All-World index, which will take effect on September 22.
Much of that demand focused on developers Deyaar and Union Properties which will join the index for the first time. Both stocks maintained positive momentum yesterday, adding 3.1 and 1.4 percent respectively, even though net buying by foreigners was much smaller than last Thursday, according to bourse data.
Saudi Arabia’s main index fell 0.5 percent and property developers Jabal Omar and Dar Al Arkan were the main drags, sliding 1.5 and 2.8 percent respectively.
Local media reported last week that the kingdom’s Supreme Economic Council, a top policy body, would consider taxing undeveloped urban land as part of efforts to end a serious housing shortage in the country.
Although it is unclear whether the proposed tax would apply to developers, it could potentially hurt companies with large land banks. Egypt’s bourse slipped 0.1 percent after hitting a six-year closing high of 9,729 points in the previous session.
The Peninsula & Agencies
