Domestic institutions’ bullish outlook helped the Qatar Stock Exchange stay afloat in the positive trajectory for most part of this week.
Real estate, telecom and banking counters witnessed higher-than-average demand this week, which saw non-resident deposits register a robust 35% year-on-year expansion in May 2019; outpacing the 3% growth in total deposits in the Qatar’s banking system.
Notwithstanding more than 61% of the traded constituents being in the red, the 20-stock Qatar Index gained more than 122 points or 1.17% this week which saw Qatar's industrial producers' earnings register a 6.1% fall year-on-year in May 2019 despite increase in some of the manufacturing products and utilities sector.
However, local and non-Qatari retail investors were seen bearish and there was weakened buying interests of foreign funds this week which saw no trading of treasury bills and sovereign bonds.
Trade turnover decreased amid higher volumes this week which saw a PricewaterhouseCoopers report that said an expected increase in hydrocarbons output, non-oil expansion, boosted by Qatar Petroleum's localisation drive and fresh digital investment, supported by 5G rollout, offer potential to many sectors in potentially doubling the economic growth.
The Total Return Index gained 1.17%, All Share Index by 1.09% and Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) by 0.67% this week which saw as many as 4,292 Masraf Al Rayan sponsored exchange traded fund QATR valued at QR0.1mn trade across 13 deals.
Five of the seven sectors were under selling pressure this week which witnessed a total of 1,329 Doha Bank sponsored QETF valued at QR0.14mn changed hands across eight transactions.
Market capitalisation expanded 1% or about QR6bn to QR581.99bn this week which saw large and midcaps come under strong profit booking pressure.
The realty index soared 2.47%, telecom (2.11%), banks and financial services (1.73%), consumer goods (0.77%) and insurance (0.01%); whereas transport and industrials declined 2.08% and 0.15% respectively this week which saw industrials, banking and consumer goods sectors together accounted for about 74% of the total trade volume.
The industrials sector accounted for 26% of the total volume, banks and financial services (25%), consumer goods (23%), real estate (19%), insurance (4%), telecom (2%) and transport (1%) this week.
In terms of value, banks and financial services sector’s share was 29%, industrials (22%), consumer goods (14%), telecom (13%), realty (10%), and transport and insurance (6% each) this week.
Domestic institutions turned net buyers to the tune of QR5.34mn compared with net sellers of QR123.33mn the previous week.
However, local retail investors were net sellers to the extent of QR66.04mn against net buyers of QR16.18mn a week ago.
Non-Qataris were also net sellers to the tune of QR13.23mn compared with net buyers of QR7.28mn the week ended June 27.
Foreign funds’ net buying weakened significantly to QR73.93mn against QR99.74mn the previous week.
Total trade volume rose 7% to 272.72mn shares, while value fell 30% to QR0.88bn despite 4% higher transactions at 26,680 this week.
The real estate sector’s trade volume grew more than seven-fold to 52.41mn equities, while value was down 7% to QR83.53mn despite 1% higher deals at 2,654.
The insurance sector’s trade volume gained about seven-fold to 9.93mn stocks, value by 54% to QR49.66mn and transactions by 16% to 965.
The telecom sector’s trade volume more than doubled to 6.74mn shares and value almost tripled to QR113.19mn on more than doubled deals to 2,411.
The industrials sector’s trade volume soared 39% to 70.59mn equities, while value declined 34% to QR195.17mn despite 18% higher transactions at 9,626.
However, the transport sector reported 66% plunge in trade volume to 1.84mn stocks, 62% in value to QR55.62mn and 41% in deals to 900.
The banks and financial services’ trade volume plummeted 37% to 68.67mn shares, value by 50% to QR254.2mn and transactions by 18% to 6,455.
There was 20% shrinkage in the consumer goods’ trade volume to 62.53mn equities, 14% in value to QR124.52mn and 1% in deals to 3,669.