Domestic institutions’ buying support lent bullish momentum but gains on the Qatar Exchange (QE) were rather masked by robust additions in the Gulf neighbourhood.
With dividend expectations already being discounted, the QE witnessed two of its five trading sessions in negative trajectory but overall its 20-stock Qatar Index closed 0.33% higher in the week.
This compares with stupendous 4.27% accrual in Dubai, 1.04% in Abu Dhabi, 0.98% in Kuwait, 0.76% in Bahrain, 0.67% in Saudi Arabia and 0.27% in Muscat.
Buying interests — especially in the insurance, banking and consumer goods sectors — had lifted the QE in the week that saw global credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s downgrade its long term rating on Ooredoo on likely higher leverage and lower free cash flow.
Foreign institutions continued to be net buyers, but with lesser intensity in the week that witnessed QNB, Qatar’s largest lender, outline its plans to invest “strategically”, primarily in the Middle East and North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa regions.
Small and mid cap equities found favour among investors in the week, which saw Abu Dhabi Investment Company aver that foreign funds inflows into Qatar ahead of the MSCI upgrade in June and the expected high dividend yields bode well for investors in the stock market.
However, local retail investors’ net selling pressure was seen to intensify in the week that witnessed Masraf Al Rayan invest more than £75mn to enhance the core capital of its newly acquired International Bank of Britain.
The 20-stock Total Return Index rose 0.87%, All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) by 0.72% and Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.16% in the week that saw Al Meera Consumer Goods Company call-off the deal with Regency Group and Aramex International to build joint venture in logistics facility.
QE has risen 7.83% year-to-date (YTD) compared to 16.67% in Dubai, 10.06% in Abu Dhabi, 4.43% in Bahrain, 3.98% in Muscat, 3.74% in Kuwait and 3.32% in Saudi Arabia.
More than 57% of the traded stocks extended gains. Of the 42 stocks, 24 advanced; while only 15 declined and three were unchanged in the week that witnessed a global law firm Pinsent Masons say that Qatar’s mammoth capital expenditure on infrastructure upgrade has offered immense potential, especially for transport and real estate segment and is not expected to “overheat” the construction industry.
Insurance stocks appreciated 2.95%, banks and financial services (2.08%), consumer goods (0.88%) and transport (0.16%); while real estate fell 1.08%, industrials (0.99%) and telecom (0.32%) in the week that saw Qatar Electricity and Water report 4% fall in net profit in 2013.
Seven of the eight industrials, six of the 12 banks and financial services, four of the eight consumer goods, three of the five insurers, two of the four realty and one each of the two telecom and the three transport scrips closed higher in the week.
Among the influential movers were Qatar Islamic Bank, Commercial Bank, Doha Bank, International Islamic, Masraf Al Rayan, Vodafone Qatar, Salam International Investment, Mazaya Qatar, Ezdan, Gulf International Services, Milaha, Qatari Investors Group, Qatar Insurance and Doha Insurance.
However, Industries Qatar (IQ), QNB, Barwa, United Development Company, Ooredoo and Nakilat bucked the trend.
The overall market trading volume was largely skewed towards banks and financial services, consumer goods and real estate sectors in the week.
However, market capitalisation eroded 0.41% or more than QR2bn to QR586.93bn. Small caps gained about 3% and mid caps by about 1%; while large and micro caps fell 0.5% and 0.29% respectively in the week.
Small, mid, large and micro cap stocks have gained YTD 12.97%, 6.63%, 6.3% and 3.66% respectively.
Domestic institutions turned net buyers of QR102.24mn against net sellers of QR49.32mn the week ended January 30.
Foreign institutions’ net buying amounted to QR96.02mn compared to QR152.38mn the previous week.
Local retail investors’ net selling stood at QR156.12mn against QR120.51mn the week ended January 30.
Non-Qatari individual investors turned net sellers to the extent of QR41.91mn compared with net buyers of QR17.68mn the previous week.
Total trading volume rose 31% to 56.05mn shares with the banks and financial services sector accounting for 26.98% of the total, consumer goods (26.39%), real estate (20.68%), industrials (10.01%), telecom (9.63%), transport (4.41%) and insurance (1.91%).
The consumer goods sector’s trading volume almost quadrupled to 14.79mn stocks, realty’s zoomed 76% to 11.59mn and banks and financial services by 16% to 15.12mn; whereas that of insurance plummeted 60% to 1.07mn, transport by 40% to 2.47mn, industrials by 15% to 5.61mn and telecom by 5% to 5.4mn.
Total stocks trading value was down 1% to QR2.3bn with the banks and financial services constituting 37.24% of the total, industrials (26.76%), consumer goods (14.33%), real estate (10%), telecom (5.39%), transport (3.46%) and insurance (2.81%).
The insurance sector’s stocks trading value plunged 58% to QR64.65mn, transport by 46% to QR79.74mn, telecom by 37% to QR124.04mn and industrials by 17% to QR616.22mn; while that of consumer goods more than doubled to QR330.09mn, realty expanded 44% to QR230.33mn and banks and financial services by 11% to QR857.63mn.
IQ led the trading value with its stocks accounting for 13.89% of the total, followed by Masraf Al Rayan (8.89%) and Commercial Bank (8.44%).
Total market transactions declined 6% to 22,641 with the banks and financial services sector’s share at 32.45%, industrials (22.39%), consumer goods (17.83%), real estate (13.36%), telecom (7.14%), transport (4.33%) and insurance (2.49%).
The insurance sector’s deals tanked 44% to 564; industrials by 34% to 5,070; transport by 25% to 981 and telecom by 22% to 1,617; but those of consumer goods more than doubled to 4,038; banks and financial services rose by 5% to 7,347 and realty by less than 1% to 3,024.
In the debt market, as many as 30,000 treasury bills valued at QR297.71mn changed hands across six transactions. A total of 10,000 government bonds worth QR101.75mn traded across two deals in the week.
