Doha: Qatar Exchange dropped slightly by 18.41 points, or 0.13 percent, when the bourse closed at 14,117.77 points yesterday, the first day of trading with its index upgraded to Emerging Market classification by Standard & Poors Dow Jones.
The trading value dropped to QR567.976m from Sunday’s QR604.862m while the volume decreased to 16,281,694 shares from 5,133 transactions yesterday from 16,897,247 shares from 5,167 transactions on Sunday.
The market capitalisation dipped to QR751.382bn from Sunday’s QR752.079bn.
Consumer goods and services (0.25 percent), industries (0.23 percent) and telecoms (0.07 percent) indices ended the day in the green zone while other sectors declined. From the 43 listed companies, shares of 42 were traded yesterday, from these 28 declined, 11 gained and three remained unchanged.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s bourse posted its biggest decline in three months yesterday as investors started to book profits and set aside cash for next month’s flotation of National Commercial Bank (NCB), the kingdom’s largest bank by assets.
NCB will sell 15 percent of its shares to the public and place a further 10 percent with a state fund, it said on Sunday. The initial public offering is expected to be one of the largest ever in the Gulf region.
The main Saudi index fell 1.2 percent, its largest drop since June 16 in a broad sell-off.
The benchmark was up 29 percent this year to Sunday’s close, with nearly half of those gains made after July 22, when the kingdom’s regulator said it would open the stock market to direct foreign investment early next year.
“I think the Saudi market was due for a correction,” said Shakeel Sarwar, head of asset management at Securities & Investment Co (SICO) in Bahrain.
“Short-term retail investors are taking profits, I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.”
The kingdom’s stock market will be closed for a national holiday on Tuesday.
Elsewhere in the region, most markets moved little as investors appeared to be preparing for Eid Al Adha which is expected to keep markets closed for most of the first full week of October.
Dubai inched up 0.1 percent. Emaar Properties was the main support, rising 0.4 percent to Dh11.65. SICO yesterday upped its target price for the stock to Dh13.30 with an “add” rating.
Abu Dhabi fell 0.5 percent as major lenders Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank and First Gulf Bank fell 1.2 and 0.5 percent respectively.
Kuwait’s main index edged up 0.2 percent. Kuwaiti National Real Estate Company rose 1.3 percent after the firm said yesterday it had agreed to restructure Dh154.4m ($537.6m) of debt owed to an unidentified local bank.
Agencies
