The Qatar Stock Exchange saw 50% of the traded constituents extend gains; yet it settled lower this week, which saw four of the five days in bearish mode.
Foreign funds were seen net sellers this week which saw the key index touch a nadir of 10,319 points on Tuesday following a three-day sell off; while made robust gains on the subsequent days but only to see easing off on the last day.
Domestic institutions were increasingly net buyers this week which saw Qatar to have a mandatory rule-based investor relations regime from October.
Insurance and banking counters witnessed higher than average selling pressure, leading to a 0.88% fall in the benchmark this week which saw global credit rating agency Moody's paint stable outlook on Qatar’s banks as continued infrastructure spending will drive modest economic growth and support lending.
Local retail investors continued to be bearish but with lesser vigour this week which saw Moody's also say that strong earnings and modest credit expansion will allow Qatar's banks to maintain solid capital buffers.
Islamic stocks were seen declining slower than the other indices this week which saw Moody's forecast that confidence-sensitive external funding is expected to make inroads into banks in Qatar in a big way.
Non-Qatari individuals were marginally bullish this week which saw as many as 1,000 sovereign bonds worth QAR10.01mn trade across one deal.
Trade turnover and volumes were on the decline this week which saw as many as 835 Masraf Al Rayan sponsored exchange traded fund QATR valued at QR0.02mn trade across two transactions.
The Total Return Index shrank 0.88%, Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) by 0.09% and All Share Index by 0.83% this week which saw a total of 25,029 Doha Bank sponsored QETF valued at QR0.26mn change hands across nine deals.
Market capitalisation eroded about QR7bn or 1.13% to QR576.23bn mainly on large and small cap equities this week which saw Qatar's trade surplus amount to QR12.12bn in August.
The insurance index plummeted 4.89%, banks and financial services (1.51%), industrials (0.72%) and real estate (0.39%); while transport soared 3.65%, telecom (0.58%) and consumer goods (0.37%) this week.
Major losers included Qatar Insurance, Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance, Doha Insurance, QNB, Qatar Oman Investment, Mannai Corporation, Qatar Electricity and Water, Industries Qatar and Barwa; even as Al Khaleej Takaful, Qatari German Medical Devices, Qatar Industrial Manufacturing, Qatari Investors Group, Gulf International Services, Aamal, Vodafone Qatar, Milaha and Gulf Warehousing were among the gainers this week which saw banking, industrials and realty stocks constitute more than three-fourth of the trading volume.
The industrials sector accounted for 31% of the trading volume, banks and financial services (23%), realty (21%), consumer goods (13%), transport (5%), telecom (4%) and insurance (2%) this week.
In terms of value, banks and financial services accounted for 38%, industrials (24%), consumer goods (10%), transport (9%), telecom and realty (8% each), and insurance (2%) this week.
Non-Qatari funds turned net sellers to the tune of QR25.52mn compared with net buyers of QR185.47mn the previous week.
However, domestic funds’ net buying rose substantially to QR63.96mn against QR12.12mn the week ended September 19.
Non-Qatari individuals were net buyers to the extent of QR3.1mn compared with net sellers of QR11.83mn a week ago.
Local retail investors’ net profit booking eased substantially to QR41.54mn against QR186.05mn the previous week.
Total trade volume fell 36% to 410.67mn shares, value by 47% to QR1.03bn and transactions by 21% to 29,544.
The transport sector’s trade volume plummeted 66% to 20.19mn equities, value by 60% to QR96.77mn and deals by 34% to 1,577.
The banks and financial services sector saw 56% plunge in trade volume to 95.29mn stocks, 50% in value to QR387.53mn and 30% in transactions 7,658.
The insurance sector’s trade volume tanked 53% to 9.08mn shares, value by 60% to QR25.1mn and deals by 50% to 771.
The real estate sector reported 38% shrinkage in trade volume to 84.78mn equities, 46% in value to QR83.05mn and 33% in transactions to 3,826.
The industrials sector’s trade volume declined 20% to 129.13mn stocks, value by 45% to QR250.89mn and deals by 7% to 8,976.
There was 16% contraction in the telecom sector’s trade volume to 18.14mn shares, 22% in value to QR83.88mn and 17% in transactions to 3,707.
However, the consumer goods sector’s trade volume more than doubled to 54.05mn equities but value shrank 25% to QR106.03mn despite 22% higher deals at 3,029.
