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Real estate stocks lift Qatar bourse up 1.2pc [Peninsula, The (Qatar)](Peninsula, The (Qatar) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) By Satish Kanady DOHA: Spurred by real estate, Qatar bourse' benchmark index jumped 1.2 percent to end the day at 13,647. On the back of a solid third quarter earnings, real estate sectoral index demonstrated a strong show by surging 5.6 percent . Qatar bourse was strongest in the region yesterday. Property major Ezdan Holdings surged 8.1 percent, after announcing a sterling 42 percent increase in its net profit for the third quarter. Barwa Real Estate, which reported a 44 percent jump in its net profit for the first nine months yesterday, was up by 1.97 percent. Barwa said the profit growth was mainly due to the timely steps taken by the company to boost its revenue and also improve is cost management. The total value of realty stocks jumped to QR314m from the previous session's QR196m. The day saw traders changing hands of more than 13 million real estate shares compared to 7 million shares on Monday. The real estate stocks are rallying on strong government data. Qatar Central Bank's (QCB) third quarter real estate price index is a major trigger. The weekly real estate transaction data released by the Ministry of Justice yesterday noted the sales contract registered at the ministry between October 19 and 23, 2014 hit a new peak of QR1.5bn. Banking and insurance sectors were other major drivers. Market cap increased QR6bn to QR735bn. The turnover increased to QR849m, compared with QR614m and traded volume rose to 23 million shares from 14.82 million. Strong buying and shifting of positions boosted several blue chips and small-cap stocks, mainly Ezdan , Mazaya, Barwa, QNB and United Development. Telecom major Ooredoo, which delivered a 'not-that-exciting' numbers yesterday fell 1.03 percent. The telecommunications operator missed estimates by a wide margin with an 11 percent rise in third-quarter net profit. Ooredoo made a profit of QR375m ($103m) while analysts had on average expected QR802m, according to a Reuters report. The Qatari bourse began to restore investor confidence after posting positive corporate financial results especially for leading stocks, Mubasher quoted market experts as saying. Nawaf Al Awn, technical analyst, told Mubasher the benchmark index faces strong resistance at 13,700 in the medium term, noting that moving above such a level will drive the index higher towards 13,993 points. Alkhabeer Capital, a leading asset management and investment firm in the region, said yesterday the foreign ownership of Qatar equities accounts for 8 percent of QE's total market capitalisation compared to 6.3 percent of Dubai markets. The total foreign ownership of Saudi equities currently stands at around 1.2 percent of the total market capitalization, analysts at Alkhabeer Capital noted. The Peninsula (c) 2014 Dar Al Sharq Press, Printing & Distribution. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |