The Qatar Exchange (QE) closed out the week in the red, hurt by profit-taking on some leading stocks such as Ooredoo, Industries Qatar and Qatar Islamic Bank.
The benchmark dropped 2.01% or 277.03 points to close below the 13500 level at 13498.86 pts.
Ali Al-Anzi, technical analyst at M&R Consultants Corporation, told Mubasher exclusively that the index failed to complete its upward trend due to profit-taking on some leading and small-cap stocks.
The index’s closure below the 13500 level is technically normal, and does not show any negative sign especially after the strong rallies seen by the market in the past sessions, Al-Anzi said.
The telecommunications sector dropped 3.03%, with Ooredoo and Vodafone Qatar falling 3.45% and 1.90%, respectively.
The industrials also dipped 2.39%, as Industries Qatar lost 3.4% and Investors (-2.85%). The banks closed 1.9% lower on Qatar Islamic Bank (-3.36%) and National Leasing (-3.36%).
In addition, the insurance was down 1.16% on General Insurance (-3.02%) and Islamic Insurance (-0.79%).
The transportation, real estate and services declined 1.08%, 0.81% and 0.48%, respectively.
Turnover increased from QAR 956.77 million to QAR 1.045 billion, while trading volume fell from 25.95 million shares to 18.75 million shares.
Technical analyst Khalid Al-Ansari said the bourse’s performance is still positive despite Thursday’s strong profit-taking. He added that today’s decline is technically healthy.
The index is facing strong support at 13428 pts, Al-Ansari said.
(Written by Mahmoud Gamal; Translated by Abdul Maguid Aboshahla)