Doha: Qatar Exchange was down yesterday 48.73 points or 0.57 percent to 8,445.61 points from the previous closing of 8,494.34.
The volume of shares traded fell to 2,768,696 from 3,433,330 on Monday, and the value of shares decreased to QR133,279,254.12 from QR162,621,019.07 on Monday.
Among the top losers were Barwa Real Estatee whose share dropped 1.93 percent to QR28.00, Qatar Navigation lost 1.55 percent to QR63.60, Al Kaleej Takaful fell 2.41 percent to QR44.50 and General Insurance down 7.63 percent to QR46.00.
The banking and financial sector lost 2.72 points while the insurance sector dropped 5.26 points. The industrial sector down 21.43 points and the services sector added 213.87 points.
“Selling pressure is likely to continue - there’s no catalyst to build new positions at this time, with third-quarter earnings out of the way. But we should start to see accumulation by year-end for dividend yields,” Gulfmena Investments’ Shurrab said.
Meanwhile, Egyptian shares extended a week-long rally yesterday as investors kept an eye on negotiations for a $4.8bn IMF loan the government hopes to wrap up by the end of the week, while Gulf bourses ended mixed.
Egypt’s finance minister said on Monday he expected an agreement to be signed by today. An IMF negotiating team is scheduled to leave Cairo on Thursday.
The benchmark index gained 0.8 percent to its highest close in November. It has risen more than four percent since November 4 on hopes for an imminent agreement with the International Monetary Fund that could trigger a flow of investment into Egypt.
“They are watching the IMF deal very closely,” said Osama Mourad of Arab Finance Brokerage.
NSGB shares slid 1.7 percent to 44.49 Egyptian pounds ($7.30) on a report indicating they were trading at a premium to the expected price if Qatar National Bank (QNB) buys a majority stake in the Egyptian bank.
Three sources said on Monday that QNB was close to sealing a deal to buy the stake of Societe Generale at a price that would value all of NSGB at about $2.6bn, below its stock market value of around $3.3bn.
That price would value NSGB shares at around 35-36 pounds.
Orascom Telecom and Media Technology gained 1.7 percent a fter the exchange said it made a net profit of 1.62bn Egyptian pound from November 29., 2011, until September 30, 2012, its first 10 months of operation since its formation.
In the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi’s benchmark slipped from a 16-month high, down 0.4 percent, as investors took weak global cues to book gains.
Banks dragged the UAE capital’s index with Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank down 2.1 percent, National Bank of Abu Dhabi slipping 0.2 percent to Dh9.80 and Union National Bank dipping 1.3 percent.
Earlier yesterday, Bahrain-based SICO Investment Bank cut UNB to neutral from add, while it raised its price target for NBAD to 10.20 dirhams from Dh9.30.
Small-caps fell with Al Buhaira National Insurance and Gulf Cement slumping 9.6 and 7.8 percent respectively.
“This is the impact from the uncertainty in international markets and a lack of news today was not helping the markets to continue the rally we saw yesterday,” said Marwan Shurrab, vice-president and chief trader at Gulfmena Investments.
Dubai’s index declined 0.7 percent, easing away from Monday’s two-week closing high.
Emaar Properties and Dubai Islamic Bank slipped 0.6 and 1.5 percent respectively. Telecom operator du shed 1.3 percent.
The Peninsula
