Qatari stocks rallied yesterday backed by large net buying by foreign institutional investors. The index of the Doha Securities Market (DSM) was up 262 points, or 5.34 percent, to 5,159.59.
Analysts said record financials reported by listed companies for 2008 buoyed the trading sentiment on the DSM, so institutional investors going after large cap stocks was not entirely unexpected. Net buying by foreign institutional investors was a record QR121.8m at the close of trading, while their sell volumes were low, worth barely QR35.79m.
Retail Qatari investors offloaded more shares (worth QR283.47m) than they grabbed (QR233.37m) as net buying by local institutional as well as foreign retail investors was much less than the sell volumes.
A highlight of yesterday’s trading was that 36 of the 43 listed shares surged. Two stocks remained unchanged. The rally pushed the market capitalisation to QR221.62bn.
The banking sector which accounted for the largest share (over QR10bn) in the collective net profits of listed firms for 2008 (over QR28bn) led yesterday’s rally as it surged 5.8 percent. The industrial counters trailed with an increase of 5.53 percent followed by the services stocks, which registered a four per cent rise.
Top gainers yesterday were Qatar Technical Inspection Company, Qatar National Bank (QNB), Commercial Bank of Qatar, Doha Bank, Industries Qatar (IQ), Qatar Gas Transport Company (Nakilat), First Finance and Gulf International.
IQ stocks gained 5.87 per cent to close at QR84.80, while Nakilat advanced over five percent to QR18.40.
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