Weekly Market Report
The Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) Index declined by 475.53 points, or 3.31%, during the week, to close at 13,874.97 points. Market capitalisation decreased by 3.1% to reach QR739.2bn compared to QR762.6bn at the end of the previous week. Of the 43 listed companies, 2 companies ended the week higher, while 39 fell and 2 remained unchanged. Islamic Holding Group (IHGS) was the best performing stock for the week, with a gain of 1.4% on 0.5mn shares traded; the stock is up 160.0% year-to-date (YTD). Doha Bank (DHBK) was the worst performing, with a decline of 5.9% on 2.5mn shares traded. The stock is still up 1.2% YTD.
QNB Group (QNBK), Industries Qatar (IQCD) and Qatar Islamic Bank (QIBK) dragged the index down. QNBK ended the week shaving 93.7 points off the index. However, the stock is up 18.0% YTD. IQCD dragged the index down by 66.0 points; the stock is up 13.1% YTD. QIBK also pushed the index lower by 55.0 points. The stock is still up 63.8% YTD. On the other hand, Medicare Group (MCGS) was the only stock in the QSE index that didn’t post a decline during the week on a closing basis.
Trading value during the week decreased by 18.0% to reach QR2.7bn vs QR3.3bn in the prior week. The banks and financial services sector led the trading value during the week, accounting for 38.4% of the total equity trading value. The real estate sector was the second biggest contributor to the overall trading value, accounting for 29.7% of the total trading value. Ezdan Holding (ERES) was the top value traded stock during the week with total traded value of QR537.5mn.
Trading volume decreased by 17.3% to reach 66.8mn shares vs 80.8mn shares in the prior week. The number of transactions also fell by 23.5% to reach 25,776 transactions versus 33,675 transactions in the prior week. The real estate sector led the trading volume, accounting for 53.5%, followed by the banks and financial services, which accounted for 23.0% of the overall trading volume. ERES was the top volume traded stock during the week with total traded volume of 27.1mn shares.
Foreign institutions turned bearish during the week with net selling of QR114.0mn vs net buying of QR263.9mn in the prior week. Qatari institutions remained bearish with net selling of QR174.0mn vs net selling of QR288.4mn the week before. Foreign retail investors turned bullish for the week with net buying of QR34.5mn vs net selling of QR57.9mn in the prior week. Qatari retail investors remained bullish with net buying of QR253.8mn vs net buying of QR82.8mn the week before.
Thus far in 2014, the QSE has already witnessed net foreign portfolio investment inflow of $2.4bn.