Doha: Qatar’s main index rose for the second trading day yesterday, albeit marginally, after breaching the magical barrier of 9,000 points to a two-year high on Sunday.
With a 55 points (0.61 percent) gain, the benchmark index inched up to 9,064 points at the close of trading.
The trading value yesterday was a record QR456.83m, reminiscing the days of stock boom several years ago when average daily turnovers used to be close to half-a-billion riyals.
Trading volumes also jumped many times over and were yesterday 13.87 million across more than 6,300 deals.
Analysts said the rise was due to investors plowing funds back into the market after the mega initial public offering (IPO) of Doha Global Investment was put off without assigning a new date for its launch.
Large numbers of small Qatari investors had been offloading stocks on the bourse (Qatar Exchange) to mobilize cash to subscribe to the IPO.
However, when it was announced that the primary offer was being postponed they were disappointed and began putting their money back into the bourse, an analyst said.
A mix of other factors were also into play like world and regional stocks doing well and the Group pumping liquidity into the market, said prominent stock analyst Bashir Al Kahlout.
Meanwhile, Kuwait’s bourse extended sharp year-to-date gains in heavy trading yesterday, while profit-taking weighed on bourses in the United Arab Emirates and other markets were mixed.
Kuwait’s index rose 1.3 percent to hit a fresh 46-month high, trading KD111m ($387.9m). Companies owned by one of Kuwait’s largest merchant families rose after a favourable court ruling.
Kuwaiti newspaper reports said Libya will have to pay the Kharafi Group $930m in damages for former leader Muammar Gaddafi’s cancelling of the construction of a vacation resort.
Telco Zain gained 2.9 percent, National Industries Group Holding climbed two percent and National Investments Company rose 2.4 percent.
Most large-caps rose, pushing the bluechip Kuwait 15 index up 13 points. “We expect the market to continue its positive performance and maintain above the 8,000 points level mainly driven by the positive sentiment and the new liquidity channelled to the market,” said Fouad Darwish, head of brokerage at Global Investment House. The index closed at 8,126 points.
In Saudi Arabia, shares in developer Dar Al Arkan halted two sessions of sharp gains after the firm said in a bourse statement it would not be paying a dividend for 2012 as it looks to fund business growth. The stock fell 6.3 percent.
The kingdom’s benchmark climbed 0.1 percent, up for a fourth-straight session to hit a fresh one-year high. Bluechips supported gains, with the banking shares measure adding 0.5 percent and the petrochemical sector index up 0.3 percent.
In the United Arab Emirates, profit-taking slowed the recent rally on the two main bourses.
Dubai’s Arabtec fell 2.1 percent after thousands of workers at the firm staged a rare strike, demanding higher pay.
The emirate’s benchmark snapped a nine-session rally, falling 0.5 percent to trim year-to-date gains to 44.3 percent.
Abu Dhabi benchmark slipped off its 54-month high, falling 1.2 percent. Turnover has surged on the two markets.
The Peninsula/Reuters
