Gulf funds’ buying interests lift QSE more than 2%; banks and telecom outperform

A higher than average demand for the banks and telecom scrips led the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) gain more than 2% this week.
The Gulf funds were seen net buyers as the 20-stock Qatar Index shot up 2.24% this week which saw Qatar Islamic Bank report net profit of QR1.96bn in the first half (H1) of 2023.
About 66% of the traded constituents extended gains to investors this week which saw Barwa Real Estate's fully-owned subsidiary Lusail Golf Development Company reach a pact to sell two land plots in the Lusail area for QR6.36bn.
The foreign institutions were seen net buyers this week which saw Commercial Bank report H1 net profit of QR1.55bn.
The Islamic index was seen gaining slower than the other indices this week which saw Ahlibank Qatar register net profit of QR359.74mn in H1-2023.
The Arab retail investors were seen bullish this week which saw Woqod report net profit of QR440.18mn in the first six months of this year.
However, the local retail investors turned net profit takers in the main market this week which saw Qatar's ports see a 32% year-on-year increase in container transport volume in January-June 2023.
The domestic institutions were also net sellers this week which Qatar register a more than eight-fold jump in contracts awarded to $10.4bn in the second quarter of 2023.
The foreign individuals were seen bearish this week which saw a total of 0.41mn Masraf Al Rayan-sponsored exchange-traded fund QATR worth QR0.9mn trade across 27 deals.
The Arab funds were net profit takers in the main market this week which saw as many as 0.03mn Doha Bank-sponsored exchange-traded fund QETF valued at QR0.34mn change hands across 32 transactions.
Market capitalisation stood at QR616.76bn on the back of mid and small cap segments this week which saw the banks, consumer goods and industrials sectors together constitute about 78% of the total trade volume in the main market.
The Total Return Index soared 2.24%, the All Share Index by 2.06% and the All Islamic Index by 1.8% this week, which saw no trading of sovereign bonds.
The banking sector index shot up 3%, telecom (2.26%), real estate (1.44%), industrials (1.36%), consumer goods and services (0.74%), insurance (0.48%) and transport (0.32%) this week which saw no trading of treasury bills.
Major gainers in the main market included Qatar Oman Investment, Salam International Investment, Qatar Islamic Bank, Mannai Corporation, Doha Bank, QNB, Lesha Bank, Alijarah Holding, Industries Qatar, Estithmar Holding, Qatar Electricity and Water, Gulf International Services, Mazaya Qatar, Barwa, Ezdan, Vodafone Qatar, Ooredoo and Gulf Warehousing. In the venture market, Al Faleh Educational Holding and Mahhar Holding saw their shares appreciate in value this week.
Nevertheless, Widam Food, Dlala, Qatari German Medical Devices, Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance, Beema and Qatar Industrial Manufacturing were among the losers this week.
The Gulf institutions were net buyers to the tune of QR162.58mn, whereas the Gulf individuals were net sellers to the extent of QR3.45mn this week.
The foreign funds were net buyers to the tune of QR48.19mn, while foreign retail investors were net sellers to the extent of QR10.88mn this week.
The Arab individual investors were net buyers to the tune of QR6.26mn, whereas the Arab institutions were net profit takers to the extent of QR0.44mn this week.
In the case of Qatari retail investors and domestic funds, both were net sellers to the tune of QR128.98mn and QR73.28mn respectively this week.
The main market witnessed a total of 934.88mn shares valued at QR2.19bn changed hands across 82,703 deals this week.
The venture market saw as many as 3.01mn equities valued at QR6.12mn trade across 527 transactions.