Key index loses 331.83 points; market cap falls 2.97%

26/07/2014 08:37 AST

Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) Index lost 331.83 points, or 2.5%, during the trading week, to close at 12,952.82 points on Thursday.

According to QNB Financial Services (QNBFS), market capitalisation decreased by 2.97% to reach QR693.1bn as compared to QR714.3bn at the end of the previous week. Of the 43 listed companies, some eight companies ended the week higher, while 33 fell.

United Development Company was the “best performing” stock for the week, with a gain of 5.67% on 13.6mn shares traded.

On the other hand, Ezdan Holding Group was the “worst performing” stock, with a decline of 14.86% on only 8.6mn shares traded.

The second quarter (Q2, 2014) results last week have been a mixed bag. Commercial Bank posted a net profit of QR489.8mn.

Masraf Al Rayan reported a net income of QR471.4mn in Q2, 2014, increasing by 9% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) and 12.1% year-on-year (YoY). Net financing income and fees and commissions drove the bottom-line QoQ and YoY.

Net financing income gained by 13.3% QoQ and 19.5% YoY reaching QR395.2mn. Moreover, net fees and commissions followed suit and climbed up by 9.2% QoQ (surged by 82.4% YoY) to QR68.9mn.

Vodafone Qatar has posted narrower June 2014 loss on postpaid driven ARPU growth and lower than expected expenses, QNBFS said. In Q1, Vodafone Qatar’s net loss narrowed by 16% on a QoQ basis and 68% on a YoY basis and stood at QR27mn.

Trading value during the week decreased by 5.1% to reach QR3.4bn compared with QR3.6bn in the prior week. The banks and financial services sector led the trading value during the week, accounting for 27.9% of the total equity trading value.

Trading volume decreased by 6.1% to reach 78.1mn shares compared with 83.2mn shares in the prior week.

The number of transactions increased by 8.2% to reach 42,808 transactions compared with 39,555 transactions in the prior week. The real estate sector led the trading volume, accounting for 25.7%.

Foreign institutions remained bullish during the week. Qatari institutions turned bullish with net buying of QR155.8mn compared with a net selling of QR163.4mn the week before.

Foreign retail investors remained bullish for the week with net buying of QR24.4mn compared with a buying of QR2.2mn in the prior week.

Qatari retail investors remained bearish with net selling of QR278.3mn compared with net selling of QR130.9mn the week before.

Thus far in 2014, the QSE has already witnessed net foreign portfolio investment inflow of nearly $2bn, QNBFS said.

Gulf Times