DOHA: Qatar stocks closed sharply lower in the month of January as the benchmark index plunged 3.14 percent to close the opening month of the year at 11,899 points, yesterday.
Industrials and Telecom stocks were the main drag during the month. Industrials sector declined by 5.78 percent and Telecoms sector slipped 7.69 percent. Banks and Financial Services sector lost 2.69 percent.
The bourses’ powerhouses mostly ended in red in January. Bellwether Industries Qatar (IQ) tanked 11.19 percent. Vodafone Qatar and Ooredoo tumbled by 9.42 percent and 7.18 percent, respectively. MPHC lost 7.46 percent and banking major QNB plummeted 7 percent. International Islamic slipped 5.14 percent.
The opening month of 2015 saw a whopping QR28bn evaporating from the market due to oil-triggered sell-off. Market capitalisation fell by 4.14 percent at the end of January to QR648bn from QR676bn in December.
Of the 43 listed companies, 21 ended the month higher, while 21 fell and one remained unchanged.
Trading value decreased 38.94 percent to QR10bn in January. Trading volume decreased by 43.34 percent to 207 million shares. The number of total transactions fell by 27.19 percent compared to previous month.
The banks and financial services sector led trading value during the month, accounting for 35.53 percent of the total trading value, followed by Industrials sector (26.97 percent), real estate sector (25.64 percent), telecoms (4.67 percent) and consumer goods and services (3.61 percent).
In terms of trading volume, real estate sector was the topper with 41.83 percent share of the total volume. Banks and Financial Services sector accounted for 22.19 percent. The trading volume of industrials sector accounted for 17.28 percent and telecom sector stood at 9.43 percent.
Yesterday, the benchmark index lost 0.68 percent, or 81.03 points, snapping two-session bullish run. The market saw strong selling by foreign institutional investors on real estate and telecoms sectors. Vodafone, which announced a 21 percent growth in its total revenue for the nine months, was down 3.87 percent.
Elsewhere, the main Saudi stock index edged down 0.4 percent as some of the stocks which had driven its rally in the last few days retreated. Petrochemicals major Saudi Basic Industries dropped 2.6 percent and Samba Financial Group lost 1.0 percent, Reuters reported.
Dubai index fell 1.7 percent to 3,674 points. Abu Dhabi’s index fell 1.3 percent as major lender National Bank of Abu Dhabi tumbled 5.5 percent despite beating estimates with a 28 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit.
Disappointment over dividends also dampened Oman’s market, which edged down 0.4 percent. Kuwait index slid 1.0 percent to 6,572 points. The Peninsula
