The Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) index increased 141.51 points, or 1.62%, during the trading week to close at 8,891.16. Market capitalisation increased by 1.90% to QR491.6bn versus QR482.4bn at the end of the previous trading week. Of the 45 listed companies, 20 ended the week higher, while 24 declined and one remained unchanged. QNB Group (QNBK) was the best performing stock for the week with a gain of 8.12% on 4.1mn shares traded. On the other hand, Medicare (MCGS) was the worst performing stock for the week with a decline of 7.97% on 160.8k shares traded.
QNB Group (QNBK), Qatar Islamic Bank (QIBK) and Commercial Bank (CBQK) were the primary contributors to the weekly index increase. QNBK was the biggest contributor to the index’s weekly increase, adding 114.0 points to the index. QIBK was the second biggest contributor to the mentioned gains, tacking on 68.0 points to the index. Moreover, CBQK added 39.4 points to the index. However, Industries Qatar (IQCD) deleted 26.2 points from the index.
Trading value during the week increased by 65.14% to reach QR1.6bn versus QR974.3mn in the prior week. The banks and financial services sector led the trading value during the week, accounting for 59.45% of the total. The industrials sector was the second biggest contributor to the overall trading value, accounting for 17.78%. QNBK was the top value traded stock during the week with total traded value of QR635.3mn.
Trading volume decreased by 10.19% to reach 43.5mn shares versus 48.5mn in the prior week. The number of transactions increased by 24.77% to reach 20,716 versus 16,603 in the prior week. The banks and financial services sector led the trading volume, accounting for 36.24%, followed by the telecoms sector, which accounted for 19.43% of the overall trading volume. Vodafone Qatar (VFQS) was the top volume traded stock during the week with 7.7mn shares.
Foreign institutions turned bullish with net buying of QR296.5mn versus net selling of QR30.5mn in the prior week. Qatari institutions turned bearish with net selling of QR117.6mn versus net buying of QR7.0mn in the week before. Foreign retail investors remained bullish with net buying of QR2.5mn versus net buying of QR5.8mn in the prior week. Qatari retail investors turned bearish with net selling of QR181.4mn versus net buying of QR17.7mn the week before.
Foreign institutions bought (on a net basis) $285mn worth of Qatari equities since the beginning of 2018.
