DOHA: There was a correction at the Qatari bourse (Qatar Exchange) after it reopened yesterday following the two-day weekly off.
The correction follows the bullish run the market witnessed last week, analysts said.
The main index of Qatar Exchange fell 105 points, or 1.53 percent, to 6,729. The market capitalisation climbed down in proportion to the index fall and was hovering at a little over QR370bn.
Only eight of the 44 listed entities gained at the close of yesterday's trading while 27 fell and five remained unchanged.
None of the four counters showed any gains. The maximum beating was taken by the industrial sector at 2.58 percent. Large cap Industries Qatar and Unoted Development Company (UDC) were the major losers in this sector.
Among the advancers was Salam International which hinted at announcing cash dividend for its shareholders for 2009 after its board meeting decided to make similar recommendation to its annual genera meeting (AGM).
Other gainers were Doha Insurance and Qatar Industrial Manufacturing Company.
The other losers included First Finance, Commercialbank, Doha Bank, Ezdan Real Estate and Nakilat.
Meanwhile, most Middle East markets fell yesterday, tracking end-of-week declines in global stocks and oil prices in the absence of regional catalysts.
Egypt was the biggest casualty, falling 2.2 percent. Cairo and Abu Dhabi made their largest losses in two weeks as negative sentiment spurred investors to book gains from recent highs. Speculators bought Zain, lifting Kuwait's index, while Bahrain rose and Saudi Arabia ended flat.
"Results are out and there are no triggers to move the market higher in the short term, so regional markets are likely to take their cues from international markets and oil prices," said Shakeel Sarwar, Sico investment bank head of asset management. "In the medium to long term, valuations look good."
Oil fell to a seven-week low on Friday as the precarious finances of some euro-zone economies weighed. Similar sentiment also dragged world stocks into the red.
"Oil has been trading in a range between $70 and $80 since the third quarter and it's now at the bottom of this range," said Ali Khan, head of brokerage at Arqaam Capital.
A break below this psychological level would weigh on regional stocks and petrochemicals in particular, analysts say.
Dubai's index fell two percent, with Emirates NBD and Emaar Properties falling 2.8 and 3.3 percent respectively. Shuaa Capital dropped 7.5 percent after posting a quarterly loss.
"Dubai reacts more in both directions, so that's why there's a bigger move in Dubai than Abu Dhabi," said Arqaam's Khan.
Abu Dhabi's index dropped 0.9 percent.
"I believe the 'blind selling' is not justified on local fundamentals, it is rather sentiment correlated to US markets we are a market dominated with daily speculators who adopt the 'hit and run' strategy," said Mohammed Yasin, Shuaa Securities chief executive.
© The Peninsula 2010
