The Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) index increased 278.14 points, or 3.12%, during the trading week to close at 9,196.62. Market capitalisation increased by 4.1% to QR514.0bn versus QR493.8bn at the end of the previous trading week. Of the 45 listed companies, 31 ended the week higher, while 14 declined. Ezdan Holding Group (ERES) was the best performing stock for the week with a gain of 14.1% on 2.2mn shares traded. On the other hand, Qatar Cinema (QCFS) was the worst performing stock for the week with a decline of 9.6% on 276 shares traded only.
QNB Group (QNBK), Barwa Real Estate Co (BRES), and Qatar Islamic Bank (QIBK) were the primary contributors to the weekly index gains. QNBK was the biggest contributor to the index’s weekly increase, adding 102.8 points to the index. BRES was the second biggest contributor to the mentioned gain, tacking on 43.7 points to the index. Moreover, QIBK contributed 37.1 points to the index. However, Industries Qatar (IQCD) deleted 11.9 points from the index.
Trading value during the week increased by 0.5% to reach QR1.44bn versus QR1.43bn in the prior week. The banks and financial services sector led the trading value during the week, accounting for 36.4% of the total trading value. The industrials sector was the second biggest contributor to the overall trading value, accounting for 23.4% of the total trading value.
QNBK was the top value traded stock during the week with total traded value of QR247.5mn.
Trading volume increased by 26.0% to reach 61.4mn shares versus 48.8mn in the prior week. The number of transactions increased by 13.3% to reach 19,886 versus 17,559 transactions in the prior week. The telecoms sector led the trading volume, accounting for 32.1%, followed by the banks and financial services sector which accounted for 22.1% of the overall trading volume. Vodafone Qatar (VFQS) was the top volume traded stock during the week with 19.4mn shares.
Foreign institutions remained bullish with net buying of QR192.1mn versus net buying of QR74.4mn in the prior week. Qatari institutions remained bearish with net selling of QR156.3mn versus net selling of QR11.0mn in the week before. Foreign retail investors remained bearish with net selling of QR4.7mn versus net selling of QR18.5mn in the prior week. Qatari retail investors remained bearish with net selling of QR31.1mn versus net selling of QR44.9mn the week before.
Foreign institutions bought (on a net basis) $200mn worth of Qatari equities since the beginning of 2018.
