Earnings expectations and the interim dividend announcements were seen lifting the sentiments in the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE), which closed this week on a higher note, even as shakers outnumbered movers.The telecom and banking counters witnessed higher than average demand as the 20-stock Qatar Index rose 0.64% this week which saw the International Monetary Fund say that the World Cup has accelerated Qatar’s economic diversification into non-hydrocarbon sectors and the newly created infrastructure can be leveraged to chart a new path for diversification in sectors beyond the oil and gas industries for further economic growth.The bullish grip of the Arab individuals was instrumental in lifting the overall mood in the main bourse this week which saw Doha Bank report QR432.33mn net profit in the first half (H1) of 2024.The domestic institutions’ weakened net profit booking had its influence in the main market this week, which saw Vodafone Qatar ring in net profit of QR293.17mn in H1-2024.The foreign institutions continued to be net buyers but with lesser intensity in the main bourse this week which saw Aamal Company’s H1-2024 net profit at QR188.36mn.However, the local retail investors were increasingly bearish in the main market this week which saw Commercial Bank closes $500mn syndicated loan facility.The Gulf funds were seen increasingly into net profit booking in the main bourse this week which saw United Development Company register net profit of QR145mn in H1-204.The Gulf retail investors were also seen increasingly net sellers in the main market this week which saw a total of 0.01mn Masraf Al Rayan-sponsored exchange-traded fund QATR worth QR0.03mn trade across 10 deals.The foreign individuals were increasingly net profit takers in the main bourse this week which saw as many as 0.01mn Doha Bank-sponsored exchange-traded fund QETF valued at QR0.09mn change hands across nine transactions.The Islamic index was seen gaining slower than the other indices in the main market this week which saw the banks and consumer goods sectors together constitute about 52% of the total trade volumes.Market capitalisation gained QR4.68bn or 0.81% to QR584.94bn on the back of mid and small cap segments this week, which saw no trading of sovereign bonds.Trade turnover and volumes were on the decline in the main market this week which saw no trading of treasury bills.In the case of venture market, trade turnover and volumes were on a slippery path this week, which saw Baladna report net profit of QR100.42mn in H1-204.The Total Return Index rose 0.69%, the All Share Index by 0.83% and the All Islamic Index by 0.24% this week which saw Gulf Warehousing’s net profit at QR100.35mn in H1-2024.The telecom sector index shot up 1.73%, banks and financial services (1.59%), insurance (0.33%), industrials (0.17%) and transport (0.02%); while real estate declined 1.67% and consumer goods and services 0.34% this week which saw Lesha Bank announce net profit of QR54.13mn in H1-2024.Major shakers in the main bourse included QLM, Baladna, QNB, Ooredoo, QIIB, Inma Holding, Qatar Industrial Manufacturing, Industries Qatar and Milaha. In the venture market, Al Mahhar Holding saw its shares appreciate in value this week which saw global credit rating agency Capital Intelligence (CI) affirm Qatar's long-term (LT) foreign currency rating and LT local currency rating at ‘AA’.Nevertheless, Ezdan, Doha Bank, Qatari Investors Group, Medicare Group, Woqod, Widam Food, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Qamco, Mazaya Qatar and Nakilat were among the losers in the main market. In the junior bourse, Techno Q saw its shares depreciate in value this week which saw CI forecast that Qatar's short-to-medium-term growth outlook remains “relatively favourable” with real gross domestic product slated to grow by an average of 3.3% in 2024-26.The Arab retail investors turned net buyers to the tune of QR8.47mn against net profit takers of QR12.68mn the week ended July 18.The domestic funds’ net selling declined significantly to QR40.71mn compared to QR70.73mn the previous week.However, the local individuals’ net profit booking grew substantially to QR56.17mn against QR35.41mn a week ago.The Gulf institutions’ net selling expanded marginally to QR29.27mn compared to QR28.74mn the week ended July 18.The foreign retail investors’ net profit booking grew marginally to QR11.97mn against QR11.51mn the previous week.The Gulf individuals’ net selling shrank strengthened markedly to QR6.08mn compared to QR2.66mn a week ago.The foreign institutions’ net buying decreased noticeably to QR135.74mn against QR161.75mn the week ended July 18.The Arab institutions had no major net exposure compared with net profit takers of QR0.02mn the previous week.The main market witnessed a 33% plunge in trade volumes to 545.53mn shares, 29% in value to QR1.45bn and 26% in deals to 58,573 this week.In the venture market, trade volumes tanked 54% to 3mn equities, value by 54% to QR5.91mn and transactions by 38% to 312.

CrowdStrike’s recent technical glitch, which caused a massive global IT outage, has highlighted the importance of localising proprietary solutions in Qatar, offering a significant opportunity for the country’s tech startup ecosystem.Sofiane el-Abdi, cybersecurity practice leader at KPMG Qatar, also said Qatar’s approach to data sovereignty and localisation had minimised the impact of the incident.CrowdStrike’s software update glitch had brought about havoc on computer systems worldwide, affecting banks, airlines, and other service-oriented sectors.He noted that Qatar, including other countries, “is not yet open” to export the country’s data or utilise the cloud beyond its borders. “This strategy helped ensure that most of the operations in Qatar continued smoothly, even as systems elsewhere were affected,” el-Abdi told Gulf Times in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.El-Abdi emphasised that there is potential for startups in Qatar to capitalise on this strategy, citing most solutions are being offered by the US and other countries in the region. “But you don’t have any Qatar security solutions, which presents a clear opportunity for local startups to develop and offer security solutions tailored to the needs of Qatari organisations,” el-Abdi pointed out.“CrowdStrike has handled the incident well. But at the same time, it’s also an opportunity for Qatar to invest in their own solutions,” el-Abdi stated, adding that this investment could attract new startups and drive innovation within Qatar, reducing dependency on international vendors.El-Abdi also emphasised the role of the Qatari government in providing support to tech startups in the country. At the same time, he also acknowledged the need to bring in expertise from outside the country to develop these technologies.According to el-Abdi, the ability to market these solutions internationally is crucial for their success. “Even if Qatar serves as an initial market, these solutions need a lot of research and development (R&D). And this R&D will need investments from companies,” explained el-Abdi, who also emphasised that a healthy company needs access to international markets to sustain growth and development.Asked about the impact of the CrowdStrike incident on future discussions during upcoming Web Summit Qatar conferences, el-Abdi said the summit is “a good opportunity” to focus on resiliency.“What happened earlier was an IT incident and not a cyberattack,” clarified el-Abdi, who emphasised that focusing on resiliency could help prepare organisations for future incidents, ensuring continuity of operations even in the face of IT outages or cyberattacks.Some of the key lessons from the CrowdStrike incident to enhance Qatar’s resilience against similar threats include enhanced testing, including local developer testing and fault injections, el-Abdi further explained, adding that “we need to have local testing with some on-site developers when it is needed.”He also recommended improving deployment strategies to avoid widespread impact and ensuring robust monitoring and error-handling processes. El-Abdi also underscored the importance of user involvement in cybersecurity measures. “The users also need to be involved in those controls,” stated el-Abdi, who also called for validation checks and customer controls to ensure that updates do not negatively affect individual systems.For supporting the digitalisation of Qatar’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), el-Abdi called for strategic platform development to ensure segregation between companies.“We need to ensure that we differentiate the platforms and to differentiate the architecture to keep some kind of isolation between all companies and all SMEs,” el-Abdi explained, adding that this approach would prevent widespread impact from any single incident affecting the entire ecosystem.