Islamic equities outperform as QSE remains under bullish spell

Strong macroeconomic constructs strengthened the bullish sentiments in the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE), which gained 102 points in key index this week, leading the market tender positive returns on a year-to-date basis.
The insurance, real estate, transport and consumer goods counters witnessed higher than average demand as the 20-stock Qatar Index gained 0.96% this week, which saw the global credit rating agency Standard and Poor’s (S&P) forecast Qatar’s growth to gain momentum from 2025 on liquefied natural gas expansion.
About 86% of the traded constituents extended gains to investors this week which saw the listed companies cumulatively report net profit of QR12.54bn in the first three months of this year.
The Arab retail investors were seen net buyers this week which saw Qatar Insurance disclose its intent to sell its entire stake in Gibraltar-based subsidiaries.
The domestic institutions’ substantially weakened net profit booking had its influence in the main market this week which saw QInvest successfully closes Qatar’s first book building exercise for the initial public offering of Meeza.
The local individual investors’ weakened net selling also had its say in the main market this week which saw Mekdam Holding receive approval from the Qatar Financial Market Authority for its proposed rights issue.
The foreign retail investors’ lower net profit booking had its swaying impact on the main market this week which saw S&P forecast that the Qatar’s government debt is expected to scale down to 27% of GDP (gross domestic product) by 2026 from about 45% in 2022.
The Gulf institutions continued to be net buyers but with lesser intensity in the main market this week which saw a total of 0.45mn Masraf Al Rayan-sponsored exchange-traded fund QATR worth QR1.09mn trade across 26 deals.
The Islamic index was seen outperforming the other indices in the main market this week which saw as many as 0.08mn Doha Bank-sponsored exchange-traded fund QETF valued at QR0.84mn change hands across 56 transactions.
The foreign funds were seen net profit takers this week which saw trade turnover and volumes on the increase in the main market.
Market capitalisation was seen adding 1.02% to QR629.01bn on the back of mid and small cap segments this week which saw the banking and real estate sectors together constitute about 52% of the total trade volume in the main market.
The Total Return Index gained 0.96%, the All Share Index by 1.26%, and the All Islamic Index by 1.95% this week, which saw no trading of sovereign bonds.
The insurance sector surged 12.29%, real estate (5.17%), transport (3.09%), consumer goods and services (2.74%), telecom (0.7%), banks and financial services (0.34%) and industrials (0.15%) this week which saw no trading of treasury bills.
Major gainers in the main market included Qatari German Medical Devices, Inma Holding, Dlala, Mannai Corporation, Qatar Insurance, Qatar Islamic Bank, Doha Bank, Masraf Al Rayan, Lesha Bank, Alijarah Holding, Dukhan Bank, Medicare Group, Widam Food, Aamal Company, Doha Insurance, Al Khaleej Takaful, Mazaya Qatar, Ezdan, United Development Company, Barwa, Vodafone Qatar, Nakilat, Gulf Warehousing and Milaha. In the venture market, Al Faleh Educational Holding saw its shares appreciate in value this week.
Nevertheless, Ahli Bank Qatar, Qamco, Beema, Gulf International Services, QNB, Industries Qatar and Qamco were among the losers in the main market this week.
The Arab retail investors were net buyers to the tune of QR6.6mn against net sellers of QR13.11mn the week ended May 4.
The domestic funds’ net selling decreased significantly to QR102.32mn compared to QR266.55mn the previous week.
The local retail investors’ net profit booking shrank drastically to QR78.39mn against QR103.11mn a week ago.
The foreign individuals’ net selling weakened noticeably to QR1.36mn compared to QR20.45mn the week ended May 4.
However, the foreign institutions turned net sellers to the extent of QR32.52mn against net buyers of QR71.4mn the previous week.
The Gulf individuals’ net profit booking strengthened perceptibly to QR10.91mn compared to QR8.27mn a week ago.
The Arab institutions were net sellers to the tune of QR0.09mn against net buyers of QR0.11mn the week ended May 4.
The Gulf institutions’ net buying declined substantially to QR218.99mn compared to QR339.97mn the previous week.
The main market witnessed a 25% jump in trade volumes to 1.45mn shares and 12% in value to QR3.21bn but on 4% fall in deals to 100,704.