Qatar stocks rise on passive fund flows, other Gulf bourses weak

Qatar’s index climbed in early trade Tuesday as passive funds flowed into shares now included in FTSE’s secondary emerging market index, while other Gulf benchmarks pulled back.

Doha’s index rose 1.5 percent, recouping some of the 4.0 percent losses from the previous session. Passive funds will flow into 22 shares as of Tuesday, and the stocks will continue to be bid up for several days to come as managers meet their fund mandates.

Islamic lender Masraf Al Rayan, which slumped 5.1 percent on Monday, added 2.1 percent and telecommunication provider Ooredoo, which also dropped 5.1 percent the previous session, climbed 2.3 percent.

Meanwhile, Dubai’s index fell 0.4 percent on profit taking as some shares which had been rising over the previous several days declined. Emaar Properties lost 0.4 percent and Shuaa Capital fell 0.6 percent.

Saudi Arabia’s main index extended its previous session declines and was down 0.7 percent after 45 minutes of trade, falling below the technical support on the August low of 5,911 points.

Petrochemical shares were hit as Brent futures fell back below $46 a barrel. Large-cap producer Saudi Kayan Petrochemical dropped 2.4 percent.

Uncertainty over further austerity hit the retail segment. United Electronics (Extra) fell 2.2 percent and Saudi Automotive declined 2.8 percent.

According to local media, the government is expected to hike fees on services including driving licences, traffic violations, port fees and several other municipal services on Oct. 2.

Source: Reuters