Doha: Qatar Exchange pursued its upswing trend yesterday adding 26.52 points, or 0.27 percent, to advance to 9,833.10 points from 9,806.58 on Tuesday.
The volume of the shares traded fell to 5,917,049 from 8,916,057 on Tuesday and the value of shares decreased to QR258,647,075.01 from QR351,233,378.42 on Tuesday.
Among the top gainers were Qatar National Bank which was up 0.17 percent to QR175.00, Commercial Bank of Qatar gained 0.15 percent to QR69.00, Qatar Islamic Bank gained 0.59 percent to QR68.50 and Electricity and Water rose by 0.44 percent to QR159.30.
The Banking and Financial sector index added 0.17 points while Consumer Goods and Services sector index was down 0.83 points. The industrial sector dropped 0.03 points while insurance sector lost 0.04 points.
Meanwhile, Gulf Arab bourses were little moved yesterday, with investors wary ahead of a likely move by the US Federal Reserve to scale back its ultra-loose stimulus programme.
The Federal Open Market Committee is expected to be measured with any cuts to its $85bn of monthly asset buying, termed Quantitative Easing (QE), while also seeking to assure investors that the day of an actual policy tightening is still distant.
“As long as the Fed doesn’t take hard decisions on tapering the QE, things should be under control here,” said Sebastien Henin, portfolio manager at The National Investor.
Gulf equities may see some spill over should global bourses slump, but a larger effect would be felt on fixed income markets, he added.
Dubai’s measure fell 0.3 percent to 2,609 points, down for a third day since Sunday’s two-and-half-week high.
Abu Dhabi’s dipped 0.3 percent, trimming 2013 gains to 43 percent.
In Kuwait, the market rose 1.2 percent to a three-week high as retail investors built positions ahead of third-quarter results season, which will begin later next month.
“Earnings are expected to be better than estimates, because analysts have been very conservative,” said Fouad Darwish, head of brokerage at Global Investment House.
Saudi Arabia’s measure retreated 0.4 percent, declining for a second day since Monday’s three-week high.
Heavyweight sectors lost ground, with the petrochemical index down 0.6 percent and banking sector index easing 0.3 percent.
Elsewhere, Oman’s Galfar Engineering fell 1.3 percent to 0.312 rials after the firm said it would increase its capital by issuing of 49.5 million shares at 0.28 rials per share to existing holders.
In Egypt, the index fell 0.6 percent, ending an eight-session winning streak.
Shares in Orascom Construction Industries dropped 1.4 percent to 254.95 pounds ($36.99) after Dutch-listed parent firm OCI NV launched an equity offering of up to 150 million euros and a convertible bond offer for up to 350 million euros.
The parent firm announced a buyout offer for the Egyptian firm and already owns more than 97 percent in OCI. The offer is at 255 pounds per share in cash or one share of Amsterdam-listed OCI NV.
Shares in OCI NV were down 12.2 percent on Amsterdam’s exchange at 1403 GMT on dilution worries.
Agencies
