10/01/2015 08:58 AST
Gyrations in the oil market took the Qatar Stock Exchange through a rollercoaster path and it closed positive, albeit at lower levels, the only one bourse in the Gulf region to do so during the first week of 2015.
While Qatar’s main 20-stock index was 0.16% up, Dubai shrank 2.64%, Muscat (1.57%), Saudi Arabia (1.48%), Abu Dhabi (1.11%), Kuwait (0.68%) and Bahrain (0.11%) during the week that, however, saw losers outnumber gainers.
Micro and large cap equities largely instilled the bullish momentum to the local bourse during the week that saw Industries Qatar (IQ), Gulf International Services (GIS) and Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding (MPHC) announce dividend for 2014, ahead of their corporate results.
The dividend announcements helped sway the market to positive; barring that there are no other positive indicators at present to suggest a sustained bullish trajectory, an analyst with a brokerage house said.
The current troughs in the oil price may act as a dampener in the sentiments in the stock arkets and there are no signs of strengthening energy prices in the short to medium term,
he said.
Crude oil prices have corrected by over 50% from their highs in 2014 owing to excess supply, driven by higher US shale oil output and a fall in demand because of slowdown in many major economies.
Domestic institutions’ buoyant net buying largely supported the bourse during the week that saw the oil price plunge to a five-and-a-half year low of below $50 a barrel, forcing the 20-stock Qatar Share Index to touch a low of 11,812 points on Tuesday but only to gain for the next two days.
Buying interests in the consumer goods and industrials outweighed the selling pressure, notably in the insurance and telecom counters during the week that saw Qatar Insurance
Company (QIC) establish a Malta subsidiary to further strengthen its European operations.
The industrials and insurance stocks gained 1.84% and 1.82% respectively; while telecom
shrank 4.8%, insurance (4%), transport (0.91%), realty (0.09%) and banks and financial services (0.05%) during the week that saw Barwa fully acquire Lusail Golf Development.
The index that tracks Shariah-principled stocks was seen gaining faster than the other indices during the week that saw real estate, industrials and banks together account for more than 81% of the total trade volume.
The 20-stock Total Return Index was up 0.16%, All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) by 0.01% and Al Rayan Islamic Index by 0.71% during the week.
Of the 43 stocks, only 16 gained, while 25 declined and two were unchanged during the week. Four each of the 12 banks and financial services and the eight consumer goods; five of the nine industrials and three of the four realty stocks close higher during the week.
Major movers included IQ, GIS, Qatar Islamic Bank, Barwa and Mazaya Qatar; even as Islamic Holding Group, Vodafone Qatar, QIC, Qatari Investors Group, Doha Bank, Aamal Company, MPHC, Ezdan and Nakilat were seen bucking the trend.
Market capitalisation was up 0.16% or QR65mn to QR677.44bn during the week. Micro and large cap equities gained 0.99% and 0.48%; whereas mid and small caps fell 1.24% and 0.04% respectively during the week.
Domestic institutions were net buyers to the tune of QR320.27mn; while their foreign counterparts were net sellers to the extent of QR212.27mn.
While local retail investors net sold QR113.74mn worth stocks; non-Qatari individuals were
net buyers to the tune of QR5.99mn.
A total of 58.05mn shares valued at QR2.49bn changed hands across 35,422 transactions.
The real estate sector saw a total of 24.63mn equities worth QR709.35mn change hands across 8,739 deals.
As many as 12.63mn industrials stocks valued at QR674.87mn trade across 10,067 transactions. The banks and financial sector witnessed as many as 9.85mn shares worth QR696.19mn change hands across 9,028 transactions.
Gulf Times
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