Qatar Exchange (QE) index dropped 98.23 points or 0.82 percent when the bourse closed yesterday at 11,911.31 points. The market capitalisation decreased to QR631.38bn from QR636.55bn registered last Thursday (July 16).
The trade turnover increased to QR126.68m with a volume of 2,717,685 shares from 2,234 transactions compared with QR100.54m with a volume of 2,781,116 shares from 2,113 transactions on July 16.
Investors traded shares of 39 from the 43 QE-listed companies yesterday. Of these shares of nine gained, 25 declined and five remained unchanged.
Meanwhile, most major Middle East stock markets rose on positive second-quarter earnings and news that the United Arab Emirates would cut domestic diesel prices.
Saudi Arabia’s main index added 0.5 percent, supported by National Petrochemical Co (Petrochem), which surprised analysts with strong quarterly earnings. Petrochem surged 7.4 percent after the company posted a 55 percent increase in net profit that it attributed, among other factors, to cheaper feedstock.
Petrochem’s parent company, Saudi Industrial Investment Group, posted a 61 percent increase in quarterly profit yesterday and its shares surged 4.2 percent. Saudi Ground Services jumped 3.1 percent after reporting a 15 percent increase in second-quarter profit.
Dubai’s index rose 0.5 percent after the UAE’s Energy Ministry said it would switch from fixed petrol and diesel prices on the domestic market to ones based on global prices and revised monthly. It provided no concrete figures.
In the long term, the reform could cause substantial rises in gasoline and diesel prices but with Brent oil currently at about $56 a barrel, the initial impact appears likely to be small.
Changes in fuel prices will directly affect the bottom lines of companies that rely heavily on trucks and cars, such as courier Aramex, whose shares surged 4.7 percent on Wednesday.
Abu Dhabi’s bourse climbed 1 percent to an eight-month high of 4,902 points and Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank rose 4 percent after posting a 21 percent rise in second-quarter net profit, which slightly beat analysts’ forecasts, aided by lower loan impairments. Two other large Abu Dhabi-listed lenders, First Gulf Bank and National Bank of Abu Dhabi, rose 1.6 and 0.9 percent respectively.
Egypt’s index climbed 0.5 percent, paring early losses as most stocks closed higher. Prime Holding surged 7.6 percent after announcing a stock dividend. Electro Cables Egypt, which last week sold its stake in Egypt Cables Co for nearly three times its book value, surged its daily 10 percent limit.
HIGHLIGHTS
SAUDI ARABIA: The index rose 0.5 percent to 9,381 points.
DUBAI: The index edged up 0.5 percent to 4,203 points.
ABU DHABI: The index added 1.0 percent to 4,902 points.
EGYPT: The index rose 0.5 percent to 8,087 points.
KUWAIT: The index inched down 0.1 percent to 6,297 points.
OMAN: The index added 0.3 percent to 6,591 points.
BAHRAIN: The index slipped 0.2 percent to 1,332 points.
QNA/Reuters
