Qatar Stock Exchange -Weekly Market Report

02/08/2015 08:16 AST

The Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) index lost 159.40 points, or 1.33%, during the week, to close at 11,785.22. Market capitalisation decreased by 1.17% to reach QR626.4bn compared to QR633.9bn at the end of the previous week. Of the 43 listed companies, five ended the week higher, while 37 fell and 1 remained unchanged. Ahli Bank (ABQK) was the best performing stock for the week, with a gain of 5.32% on 110,995 shares traded. On the other hand, Alijarah Holding (NLCS) was the worst performing stock with a decline of 8.59% on 1.4mn shares traded.

Ezdan Holding Group (ERES), Gulf International Services (GISS) and Qatar Insurance Co (QATI) were the primary contributors to the weekly index loss. ERES was the biggest contributor, shedding 43.40 points from the index. GISS removed 14.80 points from the index, while QATI cut another 10.43 points. On the other hand, Industries Qatar (IQCD) and Qatar Islamic Bank (QIBK) contributed positively to the index; IQCD and QIBK added 15.95 and 9.82 points, respectively.

Trading value during the week increased by 235.09% to reach QR1.01bn vs QR302.07mn in the prior week (which had only two trading days). The banks and financial services sector led the pack during the week, accounting for 30.76% of the total trading value. The real estate sector was the second biggest contributor to the overall trading value, accounting for 23.12% of the total. QNB Group (QNBK) was the top value traded stock during the week with total of QR93.8mn.

Trading volume increased by 264.75% to reach 23.2mn shares vs 6.4mn in the prior week. The number of transactions improved by 438.11% to reach 29,763 versus 5,531 in the prior week. The real estate sector led the trading volume, accounting for 38.61%, followed by the banks and financial services sector, which accounted for 23.97% of the overall trading volume. ERES was the top volume traded stock during the week with total traded volume of 3.4mn shares.

Foreign institutions continued to be bearish during the week with net selling of QR83.9mn vs net selling of QR29.8mn in the prior week. Qatari institutions remained bullish with net buying of QR31.9mn vs net buying of QR12.7mn the week before. Foreign retail investors stayed bullish for the week with net buying of QR5.1mn vs net buying of QR906k in the prior week. Qatari retail investors remained bullish with net buying of QR47.2mn vs net buying of QR16.1mn the week before.

In 2015 year to date, foreign institutions bought (on a net basis) $438.0mn worth of Qatari equities.

Gulf Times