On persistent bearish spell, up went loss of Index

11/07/2015 13:07 AST

Qatar Stock Exchange witnessed four of the five trading session under bearish spell and its key index lost 240 points and capitalisation by more than QR13bn during the week which saw Greece vote ‘No’ to austerity measures imposed by the International Monetary Fund, European Commission and European Central Bank.

Foreign institutions and non-Qatari individual investors squared off their position and domestic institutions’ net buying considerably weakened during the week which witnessed the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics disclose that Qatar's economy estimated to have grown 4.1% in the first quarter of this year in view of the support from the non-hydrocarbon sector.

Profit booking was seen stronger, especially in the industrials and real estate, as the 20-stock Qatar Index plunged 1.98% during the week which saw Barwa Real Estate outline QR15bn capital expenditure for the next five years as part of efforts to achieve a minimum 15% return of equity and doubling of shareholders' equity by 2020.

In comparison, Dubai fell 1.75%, Bahrain (1.17%), Kuwait (0.69%), Abu Dhabi (0.4%) and Muscat (0.11%); while Saudi Arabia gained 1.59% during the week which witnessed QNB report 11% increase in net profit to QR5.6bn in the first six months of this year.

Qatar’s bourse has so far (year-to-date) fallen 3.3% against Bahrain’s 6.45% and Kuwait’s 6.07%; even as Saudi Arabia reported 11.38% increase, Dubai (6.45%), Abu Dhabi (3.95%) and Muscat (1.47%).

“Markets are resilient enough because of the inherent opportunities and prospects in the domestic economy. The strong fundamentals are proof positive on encouraging returns for investors but will depend on a long term horizon," an analyst said in response to Greece crisis that otherwise rocked the global equity markets on Monday.

However, local retail investors turned bullish during the week which saw global credit rating agency Moody’s view that the outlook for Qatar’s banking system remains “stable”, unchanged since 2010, as the Qatari government is to continue to deploy its ample resources to maintain high public spending over the next 12-18 months.

Opening the week on a weaker note, the index kept declining for the next three days with the sharpest ebb happening on Wednesday to take the index to a low of 11,787 points. However, buying interests on the last day reversed some of the lost grounds and the index settled at 11,881 points.

The index that tracks Shariah-principled stocks was seen melting faster in the market during the week which saw Doha Bank join the new ‘Al Dhameen’ portfolio risk programme of Qatar Development Bank in promoting the small and medium enterprises.

The 20-stock Total Return Index tanked 1.98%, All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) by 1.84% and Al Rayan Islamic Index by 2.08% during the week which witnessed the overall trade volumes decline.

Industrials stocks plummeted 3.44%, realty (2.46%), banks and financial services (1.28%), consumer goods and transport (1.13% each) and telecom (0.21%); whereas insurance rose 0.16% during the week which saw industrials, consumer goods and banking counters report the maximum shrinkage in volumes.

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Gulf Times