Doha: Qatar Exchange index lost 49.15 points or 0.57 percent to hit 8,640.61 from the previous closing of 8,689.76 points.
The volume of shares traded fell to 2,513,669 from 3,726,393 on Thursday, and the value of shares decreased to QR120,467,765.07 from QR183,851,575.66 on Thursday.
Among the top losers were Qatar National Bank whose share dropped 1.47 percent to QR134.00, Commercialbank which lost 1.56 percent to QR75.80. Qatar Insurance fell 0.29 percent to QR69.40 and Rayan was down 1.56 percent to QR25.30.
The banking and financial sector dropped 1.09 points while the insurance sector fell 0.24 points. The industrial sector was down 0.39 points and the services sector lost 0.09 points.
Meanwhile, Dubai’s heavyweight banking and property stocks lifted the emirate’s index to a 33-month high above a long-term resistance level yesterday, while other regional markets were mixed.
Dubai’s index rose 1.5 percent to 1,819 points, its highest finish since April 2010. Emaar Properties climbed 3.6 percent and top lender Emirates NBD rose 1.5 percent.
Dubai Financial Market, the Gulf’s only listed bourse, added 2.4 percent, accounting for nearly a quarter of all shares traded on the index.
Hopes for strong fourth-quarter earnings, dividend payouts and an improving outlook for equities in 2013 have buoyed investor sentiment.
“UAE markets are making a real turnaround,” said Musa Haddad, head of investment advisory services at National Bank of Abu Dhabi. “The economy is growing faster than others, new projects are coming in and confidence is back in the debt market.”
The Dubai index closed above major chart resistance at 1,778 points — the 2012 high hit in March last year — and the October 2010 peak of 1,793 points.
For a break-out, it would need to close above these levels for at least two successive sessions, with a technical target above 2,200 points looming in coming months.
Abu Dhabi’s benchmark gained 0.6 percent to its highest level since February 2011.
In Egypt, the bourse recovered from a three-week intra-day low to end near-flat as international investors absorbed selling pressure from their local and regional counterparts after violence in Port Said.
Egyptians rampaged in protest at the sentencing of 21 people to death over a soccer stadium disaster last year, violence that compounds a political crisis facing President Mohammed Mursi.
Cairo’s index ended 0.02 percent lower, trimming 2013 gains to 4.1 percent.
Most stocks slipped, with 19 down and nine up.
Agencies
