By Santhosh V. Perumal/Business Reporter
Buying interests in micro, small and large cap equities maintained the positive path in the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) during the week that otherwise witnessed a rollercoaster drive during the latter part of the five-day session.
An across the board buying, particularly in the real estate, was visible during the week that saw Qatar Petroleum (QP) announce the completion of reorganisation and exiting non-core areas; leaving more scope for the private sector.
Strong buying interests of non-Qatari retail investors and institutions as well as lower selling pressure from domestic institutions helped the 20-stock Qatar Index gain 1.98% during the week which witnessed Gulf International Services (GIS) strengthen its capabilities and range of services offered as QP decided not to assign contracts by direct agreement with the concerned companies, including wholly or partly owned companies by QP or subsidiaries.
In comparison, Abu Dhabi gained 4.13%, Dubai (2.04%) and Bahrain (0.11%); whereas Saudi Arabia fell 1.46%, Kuwait (0.41%) and Muscat (0.21%) during the week that saw global credit rating agencies Moody's and Standard and Poor's reaffirm their ratings on Industries Qatar (IQ).
Qatar’s bourse has so far (year-to-date) fallen 1.24% against Kuwait’s 4.96% and Bahrain’s 4.08%; even as Saudi Arabia reported 12.41% increase, Dubai (9.88%), Abu Dhabi (5.12%) and Muscat (1.56%).
Amidst a bullish environment, local retail investors turned net sellers during the week that saw Woqod enter into a memorandum of understanding with Qatar Mobility Innovations Center for its ‘Masarak’ solution, to manage the fleet logistics and operations.
Opening the week on a stronger note, the market continued with its gain for the second day but only to see correction in the ensuing day. Thereafter, bulls tightened their grips to take the index to a high of 12,162 points on Wednesday but profit booking on the last day settled the index at 12,133 points.
The index that tracks Shariah-principled stocks was seen gaining much faster than the other indices in the market during the week that saw the overall trade volume increase.
The 20-stock Total Return Index rose 1.98% and All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) by 1.61% and Al Rayan Islamic Index by 2.43% during the week that witnessed transport, banking and industrials saw the maximum expansion in volumes.
Realty stocks appreciated 4.92%, industrials (1.68%) and banks and financial services (0.8%), insurance (0.78%), telecom (0.5%), transport (0.38%) and consumer goods (0.25%) during the week.
Of the 43 stocks, 32 gained, while only nine declined and one was unchanged. Another one was not traded during the week that saw realty and banking sectors together constitute more than 65% of the overall trade volumes.
10 of the 12 banks and financial services, eight of the nine industrials, five of the eight consumer goods, three each of the five insurers and the four realty, two of the three transport and one of the two telecom sector equities close higher during the week.
More than 76% of the stocks extended gains with major gainers being Ezdan, Islamic Holding Group, Masraf Al Rayan, IQ, GIS, Vodafone Qatar, Nakilat, Qatar Islamic Bank, Commercial Bank, Doha Bank, QIIB, United Development Company Mazaya Qatar and Qatari Investors Group; even as QNB, Barwa, Ooredoo, Milaha and Woqod bucked the trend during the week.
Market capitalisation rose 1.3% or more than QR8bn to QR642.36bn with micro, small, large and mid cap equities gaining 1.42%, 1.32%, 1.1% and 0.65% respectively during the week that witnessed Ezdan and Barwa stocks dominate the trading ring in terms of both volume and value.
Large cap stocks have witnessed 9.38% plunge year-to-date compared to 13.76%, 8.68% and 3.62% increase in small, micro and mid caps respectively.
Foreign institutions’ net buying substantially increased to QR161.12mn against QR22.5mn the week ended June 18.
Non-Qatari retail investors turned net buyers to the tune of QR31.95mn compared with net sellers of QR16.85mn the previous week.
Domestic institutions’ net profit booking weakened to QR14.83mn against QR32.9mn the week ended June 18.
However, local retail investors turned net sellers to the extent of QR178.39mn compared with net buyers of QR27.26mn the previous week.
Total trade volume rose 51% to 35.19mn shares, value by 54% to QR1.53bn and transactions by 21% to 17,051 during the week.
The transport sector’s trade volume more than doubled to 0.71mn equities and value more than tripled to QR27.83mn on 35% jump in deals to 422.
The banks and financial services sector reported 85% surge in trade volume to 5.87mn stocks, 96% in value to QR474.37mn and 23% in transactions to 3,793.
The industrials sector’s trade volume soared 83% to 3.83mn shares and value more than doubled to QR277.53mn on 12% rise in deals to 3,503.
There was 73% expansion in the real estate sector’s trade volume to 17.09mn equities, 26% in value to QR416.18mn and 57% in transactions to 5,315.
The insurance sector’s trade volume increased 33% to 0.52mn stocks, value by 31% to QR46.98mn and deals by 25% to 271.
However, there was 9% decline in the consumer goods sector’s trade volume to 2.85mn shares but value gained 47% to QR181.1mn. Transactions fell 22% to 1,568.
The telecom sector’s trade volume was down 2% to 4.32mn equities and value by 7% to QR104.64mn, while deals gained 9% to 2,179.
In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and government bonds during the week.
