Weekly Market Report
The Qatar Exchange (QE) Index lost 17.64 points, or 0.17%, during the shortened trading week, to close at 10,468.59 points. Market capitalisation decreased by 0.02% to reach QR559.4bn as compared to QR559.5bn at the end of the previous week. Of the 42 listed companies, 16 companies ended the week higher while 20 fell and 6 remained unchanged. Qatar National Cement (QNCD) was the best performing stock with a gain of 3.72%; the stock is up 4.21% year-to-date (YTD). We believe the stock offers a compelling long-term growth story and our 12-month price target stands at QR116.25. On the other hand, Qatar Cinema & Film Distribution Company (QCFS) was the worst performing stock with a decline of 7.53% on only 61 shares traded; the stock is down 28.82% YTD.
Gulf Drilling International (GDI) an associate of Gulf International Services (GISS) announced it has signed a contract with JX Nippon to utilise GDI’s ‘hi-spec premium’ jack-up rig Al Khor to drill an exploratory well in 2014. We believe the news acted as a catalyst and GISS was the biggest contributor to the QE Index’s weekly gain. The stock contributed 10.1 points to the index’s weekly gain; GISS is up 3.03% week-over-week (WoW) and 104.0% YTD. Ooredoo (ORDS) was the second biggest contributor adding 7.82 points; the stock has gained 0.88% WoW.
On the other hand, Industries Qatar (IQCD) dragged the index down by 12.50 points during the week. The stock is up 18.79% YTD. Barwa Real Estate Company (BRES) shaved 8.99 points off the index during the week. The stock is up 10.56% YTD.
Trading value during the week decreased by 53.15% to reach QR0.9bn vs. QR2.0bn in the prior week. The Banks and Financial Services led the trading value during the week, accounting for 31.09% of the total equity trading value. Trading volume decreased by 60.24% to reach 25.1mn shares vs 63.2mn shares in the prior week. The number of transaction fell by 47.21% to reach 13,668 transactions versus 25,891 transactions in the prior week. The Real Estate sector led the trading volume, accounting for 29.42% of the total. The significant decline in trading value, trading volume and number of transactions is due to the shortened trading week.
The GCC markets remained mixed during the week. Abu Dhabi’s benchmark index was the top performer, gaining by 2.6% WoW. The index registered a 2013 high on Tuesday and is the second best performer among the GCC indices with a gain of 56.0% YTD. Dubai’s benchmark index remains the best performing index with a gain of 93.8% YTD. On the other hand, Kuwait’s index was the worst performing, retreating by 1.2% WoW. However, it is still up 28.2% YTD.