The Qatar Stock Exchange settled near 10,500 levels this week which saw the listed companies cumulatively report net profit of QR10.49bn in the first three months of this year.
Although 58% of the traded constituents were in the red, the market was overall bullish this week which saw Gulf International Services (GIS) bag six orders for rigs from the North Oil Company project.
Increased buying interests of foreign institutions largely drove the key index up 0.28% this week which saw Nebras Power take a 60% equity stake in Tunisia's Carthage Power Company.
Local retail investors’ substantially weakened net selling also helped the market this week which saw Qatar National Cement Company eye 3mn tonnes exports; targeting African, Asian (including India) and Kuwaiti markets.
Consumer goods and industrials counters witnessed higher than average demand this week which saw Qatar's industrial producers' earnings registered a 0.3% fall year-on-year in March 2019.
However, domestic institutions were seen increasingly net profit takers this week which saw as many as 3,500 Doha bank sponsored exchange traded fund QETF valued at QR0.36mn trade across four deals.
Market capitalisation, however, fell 0.27% or about QR2bn to QR586.51bn mainly on account of small and microcap equities this week which saw no trading of sovereign bonds.
Major gainers included Doha Bank, Dlala, Woqod, Al Meera, Industries Qatar, GIS, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Al Khaleej Takaful, Barwa, Mazaya Qatar and Gulf Warehousing this week which saw no trading of treasury bills.
Nevertheless, among the losers was QNB, QIIB, Qatar Oman Investment, Qatari German Company for Medical Devices, Zad Holding, Mannai Corporation, Qatar Insurance, Ezdan, Nakilat and Milaha this week.
The Total Return Index gained 0.28% and Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) by 0.16%, while All Share Index declined 0.23% this week.
The consumer goods sector index grew 1.81%, industrials (0.99%) and telecom (0.06%); while real estate shrank 1.73%, transport (1.09%), insurance (0.85%) and banks and financial services (0.47%) this week which saw industrials and banking segments together account for about 70% of total trade volume.
The industrials sector accounted for 45% of the total volume, banks and financial services (24%), real estate (13%), telecom (8%), consumer goods (4%), and insurance and transport (3% each) this week.
In terms of value, banks and financial services’ share were 38%, industrials (32%), real estate (10%), consumer goods (9%), telecom (5%), transport (4%) and insurance (3%) this week.
Foreign institutions’ net buying increased influentially to QR188.56mn against QR142.8mn the previous week.
Qataris’ net selling weakened significantly to QR88.48mn compared to QR142.43mn the week ended April 25.
Non-Qatari individuals’ net profit booking also declined noticeably to QR11.03mn against QR15.15mn a week ago.
However, domestic funds were net sellers to the tune of QR89.05mn compared with net buyers of QR14.65mn the previous week.
Total trade volume rose 24% to 64.65mn shares, while value was down 9% to QR1.13bn despite 17% higher transactions at 26,653 this week.
The industrials sector’s trade volume more than doubled to 29.23mn equities, value soared 18% to QR357.35mn and deals by 31% to 10,608.
The market witnessed 70% surge in the insurance sector’s trade volume to 1.77mn stocks, 36% in value to QR34.35mn and 42% in transactions to 1,145.
The consumer goods sector’s trade volume shot up 57% to 2.48mn equities, while value was down 3% to QR97.47mn despite 12% higher deals at 1,711.
The telecom sector reported 18% expansion in trade volume to 5.35mn stocks, 4% in value to QR55.8mn and 7% in transactions to 1,492.
The transport sector’s trade volume up 10% to 1.82mn shares, whereas value shank 10% to QR43.46mn despite 23% higher deals at to 1,102.
There was 1% jump in the real estate sector’s trade volume to 8.27mn shares, 3% in value to QR111.4mn and 43% in transactions to 4,834.
However, the banks and financial sector’s trade volume fell 23% to 15.73mn equities, value by 29% to QR425.91mn and deals by 13% 5,761.
Related Story