The bullish outlook of domestic funds helped the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) stay afloat in the positive trajectory this week which saw QNB report net profit of QR7.1bn in the first six months of this year.

The weakened net profit booking pressure from local and non-Qatari retail investors also had its role in lifting the sentiments this week which saw the QSE rank second in performance and capitalisation among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) bourses during the first half of 2018.
Banking, consumer goods and industrials witnessed brisk demand, which led the 20-stock Qatar Index gain 0.63% this week which saw Gulf International Services' (GIS) subsidiary Gulf Drilling International sign a definitive agreement with Sea drill. The market witnessed a total volume of 23,601 QATR (Masraf Al Rayan sponsored exchange traded fund or ETF) valued at QR0.51mn trade across 30 transactions and as many as 84,159 QETF (Doha Bank sponsored ETF) valued at QR7.7mn change hands across 88 deals this week which saw no trading of treasury bills.
The Total Return Index gained 0.63%, All Share Index 0.57% and Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) 0.25% this week which saw Milaha, a Qatar-based maritime and logistics conglomerate, has deployed its lift boat, "Milaha Explorer', off the coast of West Africa as part of a long-term charter with a major international oil company.
The banks and financial services index soared 1.19%, consumer goods (0.79%), industrials (0.72%) and transport (0.4%); while insurance declined 0.89%, realty (0.78%) and telecom (0.64%) this week which saw the Institute of International Finance, the US-based economic think tank said higher oil prices are expected to strengthen the economic activity in the Gulf Cooperation Council through additional public spending and improvement in private sector confidence.
Buying was greatly skewed towards large and small cap equities this week which saw a Thomson Reuters report that said Qatar was the most active player in the Middle East and North African debt capital market, accounting for 28.5% of the issue in terms of value.
More than 53% of the stocks extended gains to investors this week which saw Vodafone Qatar, Dlala, Nakilat and Masraf Al Rayan dominate the trading ring in volume and value.
Major gainers included QNB, Industries Qatar, Ahlibank, Qatar Islamic Bank, Medicare Group, Qatari Investors Group, Mannai Corporation, Al Meera, Aamal Company, GIS, Nakilat and Ooredoo; whereas Qatar First Bank, QIIB, Dlala, Qatar Electricity and Water, Doha Insurance, Qatar Insurance, Mazaya Qatar, United Development Company, Vodafone Qatar and Gulf Warehousing were among the losers this week which saw telecom, banking and realty sectors together accounted for about 74% of total trade volumes.
The telecom sector accounted for 35% of the total trading volume, banking and financial services (23%), real estate (16%), industrials and transport (9% each), insurance (5%) and consumer goods (3%) this week which saw no trading of sovereign bonds and treasury bills.
The banks and financial sector’s share in total trade turnover was 35%, telecom (18%), industrials (15%), telecom (13%), consumer goods (10%), realty (9%), transport (7%) and insurance (6%) this week.
Domestic funds turned net buyers to the tune of QR10.45mn compared with net sellers of QR10.36mn the previous week.
Local retail investors’ net profit booking declined substantially to QR53.94mn against QR103.92mn a week ago.
Non-Qatari individuals’ net profit booking declined perceptibly to QR5.07mn compared to QR12.74mn the week ended July 6.
Non-Qatari institutions’ net buying weakened significantly to QR48.56mn compared to QR126.82mn the previous week.
Total trade volume fell 25% to 32.52mn shares, value by 25% to QR779.53mn and transactions by 13% to 14,176.
The banks and financial services sector saw 47% decline in trade volume to 7.36mn equities, 40% in value to QR276.21mn and 25% in deals to 4,134.
The consumer goods sector’s trade volume plummeted 44% to 1.06mn stocks, value by 26% to QR74.41mn and transactions by 14% to 1,141.
The industrials sector reported 32% shrinkage in trade volume to 2.93mn shares, 24% in value to QR115.44mn and 5% in deals to 3,071.
The transport sector’s trade volume tanked 20% to 2.99mn equities, value by 28% to QR54.44mn and transactions by 17% to 1,088.
There was 11% decline in the telecom sector’s trade volume to 11.45mn stocks but on 5% rise in value to QR143.1mn despite 11% lower deals at 1,639.
The real estate sector’s trade volume was down 8% to 5.22mn shares, value by 15% to QR72.68mn and transactions by 15% to 2,015.
However, the market witnessed 91% surge in the insurance sector’s trade volume to 1.51mn equities, 62% in value to QR43.26mn and 37% in deals to 1,088.

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