Doha: Qatari stocks surged to new highs yesterday with QE Index soaring 387 points, recording the biggest single day gain of the year. The benchmark index of the local bourse closed at 14,476 points yesterday. This huge single day gain was powered by buying support from foreign and Arab investors.
The index had registered other big gains of the year in February and March. The QE Index had surged around 324 points on March 1 when the index had closed at 13,272 points. The other big gain was registered on February 28 when the index had risen 289 points to close at 12,949 points.
It was the third straight day of gains for the Qatari stocks as the index is on rising spree since last Wednesday. In the past three trading sessions, the QE Index has surged 601 points. The index had gained 206 points on Wednesday and 213 points on Thursday.
In yesterday’s trade, foreign and Arab investors turned net buyers while local investors were net sellers. Banking stocks were in the spotlight during the trade and four banks emerged as top gainers in the list of top five gaining stocks.
Qatar International Islamic Bank gained 9.6 percent, Qatar First Bank jumped 7 percent, Investment Holding Group was up 5 percent, Masraf Al Rayan gained 4.7 percent while Qatar Islamic Bank went up by 3.7 percent in yesterday’s trade. The stocks of Baladna Company, Investment Holding Group, Masraf Al Rayan, Salam International and Gulf International Services were among the top active stocks, yesterday.
Qatar General Insurance & Reinsurance, Inma Holding, Alkhaleej Takaful Insurance, QLM Life & Medical Insurance and Dlala Brokerage & Investment Holding were among the top losing stocks.
The volume of shares traded decreased to 298 million yesterday from 365 million on Thursday and the value of shares decreased to QR1bn QR1.1bn on Thursday.
The indices of five sectors ended in green zone and two sectors ended red zone yesterday. QSE Total Return Index gained 2.75 percent to 29,536.71, QSE Al Rayan Islamic index increased 2.16 percent to 5,809.15 points and QSE All Share Index up 2.51 percent to 4,618.47 points.
