Higher than expected earnings in certain select constituents imparted an overall bullish momentum to the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE), whose key barometer settled above the 10,600 mark; but capitalisation largely witnessed smaller gains during the week.
Five of the seven sectors witnessed higher than average buying interests, which led to a 0.56% increase in the 20-stock Qatar Index during the week which saw QSE chief executive Rashid bin Ali al-Mansoori disclose that four more listings (including two exchange traded funds) are expected this year.
Buying interests were largely skewed towards small and microcap segments during the week which saw QNB outlines its plans to open branches in Saudi Arabia and India this year as part of its strategy to earn 50% of net profit through global operations in future.
Abu Dhabi had recorded 2.77% gains, Dubai (1.63%) and Muscat (0.29%), whereas Kuwait declined 3.81%, Saudi Arabia (1.82%) and Bahrain (0.07%) during the week which saw Qatar Electricity and Water Company’s (QEWC) 2016 net profit at QR1.54bn.
QSE’s year-to-date gains were seen at 1.84% compared to 14.52% in Kuwait, 7.08% in Bahrain, 4.3% in Dubai, 0.64% in Muscat and 0.51% in Abu Dhabi, while Saudi Arabia shrank 3.34%.
Foreign institutions’ buying support rather lend support to the overall bullish run in the QSE during the week which saw Barwa Real Estate's 2016 net profit at QR1.61bn.
Nevertheless, local retail investors turned net sellers and there was lower buying support from non-Qatari retail investors and domestic institutions during the week which saw United Development Company report QR623mn net profit in 2016.
Islamic stocks outperformed the main index as well as other indices during the week which saw Qatar Industrial Manufacturing Company's 2016 net profit at QR193.88mn.
Overall trade turnover and volumes were on the increase during the week which saw realty, telecom and banking sectors together account for about 77% of the volumes.
In volumes, real estate constituted 31% of the total, followed by telecom (26%), banks and financial services (19%), industrials (9%), consumer goods (8%), transport (4%) and insurance (2%) during the week which saw Mesaieed Petrochemical Holdings (MPHC) report QR99mn in net profit in 2016.
In value, banks and financial services’ share was 30%, followed by realty (25%), industrials (14%), telecom (11%), consumer goods (10%), and insurance and transport (5% each) during the week which witnessed Gulf International Services register QR67mn as net profit in 2016.
Opening the week strong at 10,596 points, the market continued to gain for the second day but only to see profit booking the next day to take the index to a low of 10,585 points. Thereafter, strong buying interests drove the index to a high of 10,654 points on Wednesday but selling pressure on the last day steered the index southwards but overall the index closed 59 points higher during the week.
The 20-stock Total Return Index gained 0.89%, All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) by 0.69% and Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.94% during the week which saw Salam International's technology subsidiary bag QR1.2bn worth contract from Qatar's new port project.
The real estate sector saw its index soar 2.42%, telecom (1.22%), banks and financial services (0.77%), insurance (0.69%) and transport (0.6%), while consumer goods and industrials fell 0.6% and 0.53% respectively during the week which saw an Institute of International Finance report that said Qatar Central Bank may increase interest rate by 0.5% to 0.75% this year.
Market capitalisation was up mere QR90mn or 0.16% to QR568.96bn as small, micro and large cap equities gained 0.91%, 0.69% and 0.32% respectively, while midcaps fell 0.62% during the week which saw Arqaam Capital that said Nakilat has the potential to go global, particularly through joint ventures, in the long term strategic option is “limited” at current spot rates, which do not offer “lucrative” returns to it.
Micro, large, small and midcap stocks have reported year-to-date gains of 2.69%, 2.01%, 1.69% and 0.56% respectively.
Of the 44 stocks, as many as 23 gained, while 20 declined and one was unchanged during the week which saw QSE announce that it will start introducing ESG (environment, social and governance) guidance this year to assist listed companies wishing to incorporate ESG reporting into their existing reporting processes.
Seven of the 13 banks and financial services, four each of the eight industrials and the five insurance, all of the three transport, two each of the nine consumer goods and the four real estate and one of the two telecom closed lower during the week which witnessed Vodafone Qatar, Ezdan, Barwa and Masraf Al Rayan dominate the trading ring in volumes and value.
Major gainers included Barwa, Aamal Company, Qatar Islamic Insurance, Doha Bank, Commercial Bank, QEWC, Ooredoo, Ezdan, Gulf Warehousing, Milaha and Nakilat during the week.
Nevertheless, QNB, Industries Qatar, GIS, Qatar First Bank, MPHC, UDC, Mazaya Qatar, Vodafone Qatar, Widam Food, Qatari Investors Group and Qatar German Company for Medical Devices were among the loser during the week.
Foreign institutions turned net buyers to the tune of QR6.96mn compared with net sellers of QR126.44mn the previous week.
However, local retail investors turned net sellers to the extent of QR21.14mn against net buyers of QR50.99mn the week ended February 2.
Domestic institutions’ net buying weakened substantially to QR11.86mn compared to QR65.66mn the previous week.
Non-Qatari individual investors’ net buying also declined to QR2.32mn against QR9.68mn the week ended February 2.
Total trade volume rose 31% to 42.99mn shares, value by 29% to QR1.29bn and transactions by 20% to 17,436 during the week.
The insurance sector’s trade volume tripled to 0.95mn equities and value more than doubled to QR67.41mn on 12% jump in deals to 620.
The consumer goods sector’s trade volume almost tripled to 3.48mn stocks, value soared 53% to QR134.3mn and transactions by 70% to 2,057.
The industrials sector reported 57% surge in trade volume to 3.89mn shares, 43% in value to QR177.16mn and 42% in deals to 3,342.
The telecom sector’s trade volume shot up 40% to 11.33mn equities, value by 13% to QR137.65mn and transactions by 15% to 1,553.
The banks and financial services sector saw 23% expansion in trade volume to 8.18mn stocks and 19% in value to QR391.54mn but on 3% fall in deals to 5,126.
The realty sector’s trade volume increased 10% to 13.39mn shares, value by 32% to QR322.65mn and transactions by 40% to 3,951.
However, there was 13% shrinkage in the transport sector’s trade volume to 1.77mn equities, 13% in value to QR58.43mn and 21% in deals to 787.
In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and government bonds during the week.
