An across-the-board buying — particularly in insurance, realty, industrial and transport stocks — led the Qatar Stock Exchange remain overall bullish amidst weakened trading volumes and turnover this week.
The bullish outlook of non-Qatari institutions and the weakened net selling by non-Qatari individuals helped the 20-stock Qatar Index rise 0.76% this week which saw global credit rating agency Fitch view that Qatar's fiscal deficit is narrowing despite the economic boycott that began in June last year.
Islamic stocks were seen gaining slower than the other indices this week which saw the Institute of International Finance say that a pickup in private consumption, public spending, and exports has helped Qatar fast dissipate shocks from the economic blockade.
The market, however, saw losers outnumber gainers this week which witnessed Doha Cables – a fully-owned subsidiary of Senyar Industries Qatar Holding in which Aamal Company is a 50% shareholder – bag a two-year QR1.24bn contract from Kahramaa for the supply of power cables.
Buying interests were squarely visible within midcap segments this week which saw Doha Bank come out with a brief prospectus that provides investors with basic information about its Qatar Exchange Traded Fund, which tracks the 20-stock QE Index.
However, local retail investors turned bearish and domestic funds’ buying support considerably weakened this week which saw Qatar's industrials sector witness a 0.8% growth year-on-year in December 2017.
The Total Return Index grew 1.25%, Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.12% and All Share Index by 1.56% this week which saw no trading of government bonds and treasury bills.
The insurance index expanded 3.58%, realty (2.91%), industrials (2.14%), transport (1.25%0, telecom (0.97%), banks and financial services (0.87%) and consumer goods (0.18%) this week which saw banking, industrials and real estate together account for more than 88% of the total trading volume.
The banks and financial services sector accounted for 47% of the total volume, industrials (23%), realty (18%), consumer goods (5%), telecom (4%), transport (2%) and insurance (1%) this week.
The banks and financial services’ share in total trade turnover was 45%, industrials (22%), real estate (13%), consumer goods (11%), telecom (5%), and transport and insurance (2% each) this week.
Major gainers included Industries Qatar, Commercial Bank, al khaliji, Alijarah Holding, Qatar Electricity and Water, Aamal Company, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Qatar Insurance, Ezdan, Ooredoo, Nakilat and Milaha this week.
Nevertheless, more than 51% of the stocks ended in the red with the major losers being Qatar Islamic Bank, Ahli Bank, Qatari Investors Group, Al Khaleej Takaful, Qatar General and Reinsurance, Mazaya Qatar, Vodafone Qatar, Gulf Warehousing and Widam Food were among the losers.
Non-Qatari funds turned net buyers to the tune of QR1.27mn compared with net sellers of QR30.59mn a week ago.
Non-Qatari individuals’ net profit booking declined substantially to QR2.85mn against QR19.99mn the previous week.
However, local retail investors’ net selling strengthened considerably to QR55.88mn compared to QR21.28mn a week ago.
Domestic institutions’ net buying declined to QR57.39mn against QR71.78mn the week ended February 14.
Total trade volume fell 9% to 32.92mn shares, value by 2% to QR792.68mn and transactions by 7% to 12,489.
The telecom sector reported 66% plunge in trade volume to 1.28mn equities, 31% in value to QR37.07mn and 33% in deals to 856.
The transport sector’s trade volume plummeted 22% to 0.62mn stocks, value by 25% to QR17.49mn and transactions by 17% to 491.
The banks and financial services sector saw 10% shrinkage in trade volume to 15.53mn shares, 4% in value to QR355.61mn and 12% in deals to 4,602.
However, the industrials sector’s trade volume soared 15% to 7.71mn equities, value by 8% to QR176.35mn and transactions by 9% to 3,662.
The market witnessed 9% expansion in the insurance sector’s trade volume to 0.37mn stocks and 1% in value to QR15.74mn but on 5% fall in deals to 390.
The consumer goods sector’s trade volume was up 5% to 1.57mn shares and value by 20% to QR89.02mn, whereas transactions fell 8% to 1,053.
Although the real estate sector’s trade volume was flat at 5.84mn equities, there was 6% fall in value to QR101.4mn and 1% in deals to 2,435.