The Qatar Stock Exchange stood high above 9,200 levels despite decliners outnumbering gainers and selling pressure within small and midcap equities this week.
Domestic institutions’ strong bullish outlook led the positive rally in the 20-stock Qatar Index, which rose 0.7% this week which saw QNB, the country’s largest lender, report a net profit of QR13.1bn in 2017.
Consumer goods, industrials and banking counters witnessed higher than average demand this week which saw Qatar Islamic Bank achieve a net profit of QR2.41bn in 2017.
Islamic stocks were, however, seen declining vis-à-vis other indices this week which saw Masraf Al Rayan register a net profit of QR2.03bn in 2017.
Local retail investors’ weakened net selling also helped maintain positive rally this week which witnessed that Ahli Bank report QR639.7mn net profit in 2017.
Buying interests was more pronounced within large and microcap stocks this week which saw Qatar intend to create a comprehensive regulatory framework for non-bank financial companies that have vast potential, particularly in the small and medium enterprises.
However, there was not only increased net selling by non-Qatari individual investors but also lower net buying by non-Qatari funds this week which saw no trading of treasury bills but some 65,000 sovereign bonds valued at QR643.5mn trade across one deal.
The banking and industrials counters together accounted for about 70% of total trading volume this week which saw Vodafone Qatar disclose a total compensation of QR90mn for the network outage in July last year.
The banks and financial services sector accounted for 46% of the total volume, industrials (23%), realty (14%), telecom (8%), consumer goods (4%), transport (3%) and insurance (1%) this week.
The banks and financial services’ share in total trade turnover was 46%, industrials (20%), consumer goods (11%), real estate (10%), telecom (7%), transport (3%) and insurance (2%) this week.
Major gainers included Industries Qatar, Ooredoo, Qatar Electricity and Water, Barwa, Mannai Corporation, Qatar First Bank, Salam International Investment, Medicare Group and Widam Food this week.
Nevertheless, Qatar Insurance, Aamal Company, Commercial Bank, Ahli Bank, Masraf Al Rayan, Gulf International Services, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Mazaya Qatar, Ezdan, United Development Company, Vodafone Qatar and Gulf Warehousing were among the losers this week.
Domestic institutions turned net buyers to the tune of QR48.19mn compared with net sellers of QR59.07mn the previous week.
Local retail investors’ net profit booking declined considerably to QR55.93mn against QR76.16mn the week ended January 11.
However, non-Qatari individuals’ net selling strengthened influentially to QR28.35mn compared to QR9.01mn a week ago.
Non-Qatari funds’ net buying declined significantly to QR36.26mn against QR144.08mn the previous week.
Total trade volume rose 15% to 71.8mn shares and value by 2% to QR1.55bn, while transactions were down 6% to 24,058.
The banks and financial services sector saw 67% surge in trade volume to 33.24mn equities, 20% in value to QR714.97mn and 4% in deals to 8,885.
The insurance sector’s trade volume soared 59% to 0.92mn stocks, value by 46% to QR35.38mn and transactions by 11% to 653.
The telecom sector reported 49% increase in trade volume to 5.7mn shares, 83% in value to QR101.44mn and 35% in deals to 2,025.
The consumer goods sector’s trade volume gained 7% to 3.19mn equities, value by 21% to QR172.48mn and transactions by 11% to 2,653.
There was 1% jump in the industrials sector’s trade volume to 16.82mn stocks but on 5% decline in value to QR312.98mn and 11% in deals to 5,249.
However, the transport sector’s trade volume plummeted 45% to 2.18mn shares, value by 55% to QR52.31mn and transactions by 36% to 1,237.
The market witnessed 34% plunge in the real estate sector’s trade to 9.75mn equities, 39% in value to QR159.86mn and 30% in deals to 3,356.
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