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Satyendra Pathak
Doha
After witnessing declines for four trading sessions in a row, Qatari stocks closed higher on the last trading day of the week as non-Qatari shareholders remained bullish throughout the day.
The Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) index added 25.92 points, 0.31 percent, to reach 8,526 points on Thursday.
Both foreign retail investors and foreign institutional funds remained net buyers on the day that saw non-Qatari shareholders account for 47.01 percent of the total buy. While foreign institutional funds led all categories of buyers with 35.4 percent, foreign retail investors accounted for 11.62 percent of the total buy.
Despite selling pressure from Qatari shareholders, market capitalisation of the bourse increased 0.4 percent to QR472.7 billion from QR470.6 billion on Wednesday. Qatari shareholders accounted for 70.83 percent of the total buy.
The day saw all the seven sector indices close in the positive territory.
The real estate sector topped gainers with 1.83 percent rise on the back of an impressive 2.85 percent gain in the share price of Ezdan Holding. United Development Company, another major constituent of the realty index, also went up 0.49 percent.
Both insurance and transport sectors gained 0.57 percent. The industrial sector grew 0.43 percent on the back of 1.23 percent gain in Qatar Electricity and Water Company.
The sector shrugged off 2.03 percent decline in Qatar Industrial Manufacturing Company's stock. The banking sector inched up 0.11 percent after Ahli Bank gained 8.9 percent.
Liquidity of the bourse went up to QR189.95 million from QR181.36 million on Wednesday, while the trading volume declined to 7.39 million shares against 10.65 million in the previous session.
Qatar First Bank, which went up 0.89 percent, led the trading volume with 854,600 shares, while Industries Qatar that went up 0.56 percent topped the bourse in terms of liquidity by QR28.3 million.
The day also saw 24 out of the 42 stocks traded on the day close in the negative territory. While 14 stocks declined, there was no change in share prices of four stocks.
Both Islamic and conventional stocks also closed the day higher.
Despite the gain on the last trading day of the week, the QSE main index ended the week slightly lower compared to the week before.
"The index managed to remain above 8,500 mark. There is a chance for a correction after the recent rally. The good news is that the moving average convergence divergence has been tilting up, which means the momentum remains positive. Our support level is situated around the 7,500 level.
"The 9,000 is the psychological number which acts as an immediate resistance level on the weekly chart," QNB Financial Services (QNBFS) said in a report.
