Doha: Qatar Exchange index lost 19.62 points or 0.23 yesterday to hit 8,422.89 points from the previous closing of 8,442.51 points.
The volume of shares traded fell to 3,477,133 from 4,630,506 on Thursday, and the value of shares decreased to QR123,622,150.86 from QR198,930,682.19 Thursday.
Among the top losers were Qatar Insurance whose share dropped 1.19 percent to QR66.60, Qatar Telecom lost 1.06 percent to QR102.80, National Leasing fell 1.07 percent to QR46.35 and Qatar Navigation down 1.09 percent to QR63.30.
The banking and financial sector dropped 6.76 points while the insurance sector lost 12.57 points. The industrial sector was down 1.33 points while the services sector added 4.49 points.
Meanwhile, Egypt’s bourse dropped in volatile trade yesterday, pulled down by profit-taking and concern that the central bank governor might resign, after stocks rose early on in response to voters’ approval of a new constitution for the country.
Supporters and opponents of President Mohammed Mursi said their unofficial counts showed the constitution had been approved after two rounds of voting that ended with a final ballot on Saturday.
The vote does not remove and may inflame political tensions in Egypt; many in the opposition feel Mursi’s action in pushing through the constitution violated the country’s new democracy, and that the document favours Islamists while ignoring the rights of Christians and women. So the vote could be a recipe for further unrest in the long term.
This could complicate the government’s efforts to win the domestic consensus on budget cuts and economic policies that it needs to secure a $4.8bn loan from the International Monetary Fund, some analysts believe.
Nevertheless, investors and traders were relieved that the vote was conducted without severe violence, and saw it as a step towards normalcy and parliamentary elections that could eventually produce a stable government.
After plunging in late November when the crisis over the constitution began, the stock market quickly began recovering and is now roughly back at pre-crisis levels.
Cairo’s benchmark index rose in early trade yesterday, hitting a high of 5,505 points, before pulling back to close 1.5 percent lower at 5,362 points in heavy trade.
One factor encouraging profit-taking was talk, fuelled by a state television report on Saturday night, that central bank governor Farouk El Okdah might resign.
El Okdah denied the report but there has been persistent media speculation that he might go, and with the Egyptian pound near eight-year lows against the US dollar, some investors fear his departure could signal a policy change in which the central bank stopped resisting depreciation.
“Some investors were speculating the constitution will fly, while others were worrying the market’s positive performance over the last two weeks will not last,” said Osama Mourad, chief executive of Arab Finance Brokerage.
“The news of the governor weighed more on the market - it increased uncertainty about the situation of the Egyptian pound and the fiscal policy of the country.”
Nevertheless, stock exchange data on Sunday once again showed that while local retail investors were net sellers, foreign investors and non-resident Arab investors were net buyers - a sign of longer-term confidence in the country.
Another sign of confidence was news that Dubai’s Majid Al Futtaim was in talks with Egypt’s Mansour Group to buy its supermarket business in a deal valued at $200m to $300m, according to three sources aware of the discussions.
Agencies
