The Qatar Stock Exchange witnessed stronger demand, especially for the Islamic equities, as its key barometer crossed the 10,900 levels and capitalisation gained QR10bn this week, which saw the advent of Mekdam in its junior bourse.
Foreign institutions’ increased buying interests was mainly instrumental in lifting the 20-stock Qatar Index 1.44% or as much as 155 points this week which saw Industries Qatar (IQ) report QR3.54bn in the first half (H1) of this year.
The real estate and industrials counters witnessed higher than average demand this week which saw Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding report H1-2021 net profit at QR909mn.
The weakened net selling pressure of the local retail investors also had its influence this week which saw Gulf International Services report revenues of QR1.4bn in H1-2021.
About 73% of the traded constituents extended gains this week which saw Qatar Aluminum Manufacturing Company register its highest half yearly net profit of QR288mn since inception.
The Gulf institutions continued to be net buyers but with lesser vigour this week which saw QLM record net profit of QR55.43mn in the first six months of this year.
However, domestic funds were increasingly net profit takers this week which saw Al Khaleej Takaful register H1-2021 net profit at QR33.03mn.
The Arab individuals turned bearish this week which saw a total of 129,699 Masraf Al Rayan sponsored exchange traded fund QATR valued at QR317,874 change hands across 37 deals.
The Islamic index was seen gaining faster than the other indices this week which saw a total of 71,870 Doha Bank-sponsored QETF valued at QR762,543 trade across 11 transactions.
Market capitalisation saw 1.61% increase to QR631.58bn, mainly on large and midcap segments this week which saw the industrials and consumer goods and services sectors together constitute more than 73% of the total trade volume.
The realty sector index shot up 3.03%, industrials (2.49%), consumer goods and services (1.18%), banks and financial services (1.06%) and telecom (0.21%); while insurance and transport declined 1.21% and 0.06% respectively this week which saw no trading of sovereign bonds.
Major gainers included Investment Holding Group, Qamco, GIS, MPHC, Salam International Investment, Qatari German Medical Devices Company, Qatar Oman Investment, Commercial Bank, QIIB, Masraf Al Rayan, Qatar First Bank, Baladna, Mannai Corporation, Qatar Electricity and Water, Aamal Company, Mazaya Qatar and Vodafone Qatar; even as Doha Bank, QLM, Qatar Insurance, Qatar Islamic Insurance and Al Khaliji were among the losers this week which saw no trading treasury bills.
The overall trade turnover and volumes were on the increase this week which saw the consumer goods and services sector account for 39% of the total trade volume, industrials (34%), banks and financial services (13%), real estate (10%), transport and telecom (2% each), and insurance (1%).
In terms of value, the industrials sector’s share was 31% of the total, banks and financial services and consumer goods and services (27% each), realty (8%), telecom (4%), transport (3%) and insurance (1%) this week.
Foreign funds’ net buying increased significantly to QR146.87mnm against QR78.11mn the week ended July 29.
Qatari individuals’ net selling declined substantially to QR90.59mn compared to QR83.86mn the previous week.
However, domestic institutions’ net selling grew considerably to QR90.59mn against QR12.73mn a week ago.
The Arab individuals’ net selling grew drastically to QR30.96mn compared to QR13.27mn the week ended July 29.
The foreign individuals’ net selling also rose markedly to QR13.94mn against QR5.36mn the previous week.
The Gulf individuals’ net profit booking expanded notably to QR4.24mn compared to QR0.71mn a week ago.
The Gulf institutions’ net buying weakened marginally to QR36.78mn against QR37.88mn the week ended July 29.
The Arab institutions had no major net exposure compared with net profit takers of QR0.09mn the previous week.
Total trade volume more than doubled to 1.09bn shares, value rose 62% to QR2.06bn and transactions by 26% to 49,565.
The consumer goods and services sector’s trade volume more than tripled to 425.89mn equities and value almost tripled to QR552.11mn on more than doubled deals to 10,549.
The industrials sector’s trade volume almost tripled % to 370.11mn stocks and value more than doubled to QR627.83mn on 79% increase in transactions to 14,275.
The real estate sector’s trade volume almost doubled to 110.8m3n shares and value also almost doubled to QR162.7mn on 44% jump in deals to 4,521.
The telecom sector reported 62% surge in trade volume to 20.78mn equities, 40% in value to QR81.92mn and 11% in transactions to 4,390.
The banks and financial services sector’s trade volume soared 32% to 135.83mn stocks and value by 1% to QR552.79mn; whereas deals were down 18% to 12,808.
However, there was 63% plunge in the insurance’s sector’s trade volume to 5.68mn shares, 52% in value to QR20.18mn and 37% in transactions to 656.
The transport sector’s trade volume plummeted 21% to 17.11mn shares, value by 26% to QR59.44mn and deals by 25% to 2,366.
 
 
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