Mubasher: The Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) closed Wednesday at its lowest level in 52 months, pressured by a decline in the industrial and banks sectors.

The main index fell 0.52% or 43.83 points to 8,427.77 points.

Five sectors declined, led by the industrial sector with 0.88%, weighed down by Qatar Electricity and Water with 2.72% to QAR 178.5, reaching its lowest level in 19 months.

The real estate sector also fell 0.67%, pressured by three of its stocks, led by Ezdan with 0.83%, while the banks sector slid 0.48%, as Qatar Islamic Bank and Qatar National Bank (QNB) dropped 2.01% and 1.02%, respectively, while Qatar First Bank rose 4.16%.

On the other hand, the transportation sector increased 0.84%, on the back of three stocks, topped by Gulf Warehousing with 1.92%.

The telecommunications sector gained 0.73%, backed by Ooredoo and Vodafone Qatar, with 0.71% and 0.85%, respectively.

Qatar First Bank was the most active in terms of trading volume with 3.88 million shares, while Vodafone Qatar achieved the highest turnover with QAR 31.7 million.

On 18 September, three Qatari stocks are expected to be delisted from the FTSE Emerging Markets Index.

The QSE is looking forward to executing the annual review in October, which includes changing the components of major indices.