The Qatar Exchange (QE) witnessed all of its five-day trading session in the negative terrain mainly due to continued selling pressure from domestic institutions but with lower intensity, making it the worst performer vis-à-vis other Gulf bourses year-to-date (YTD).
Banking, transport and industrials sectors witnessed relatively strong profit booking to drive the 20-stock Qatar Index down 1.12% in the review week that otherwise saw Dubai gain 5.07%, Muscat (2.41%), Kuwait (2.35%), Abu Dhabi (2.24%) and Saudi Arabia (0.83%), while Bahrain was flat.
The Total Return Index fell 1.08% and Al Rayan Islamic Index 0.59% in the week that saw the bourse announce that a new entity Doha Global Investment will be listed upon its initial public offering slated to start in May 2013.
The QE Index had risen only 1.46% YTD compared to Dubai's stupendous gains of 21.77%, Abu Dhabi (18.87%), Kuwait (17.58%), Muscat (8.64%), Saudi Arabia (6.42%) and Bahrain (2.1%).
More than half of the stocks were in the red with major losers being Doha Bank, Ezdan Real Estate, Milaha, Nakilat, QNB, Qatar Islamic Bank, Widam Food, Industries Qatar, Gulf International Services (GIS) and Qatari Investors Group; even as Vodafone Qatar, Ooredoo, United Development Company and Woqod bucked the trend in the week that saw global credit rating agency Moody's stamp a "stable" outlook on Qatari banking sector.
Barwa and GIS were among the most active by volume and value in the week that saw Gulf Drilling International, a GIS subsidiary, outlining their expansion plans.
The QE All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) surged 1.08% with the insurance index plunging 2.83%, banks and financial services (1.66%), transport (1.66%) and industrials (1.11%); even as telecom index gained 1.45%, consumer goods (0.6%) and realty (0.19%) in the week that saw listed companies line up their first quarter results with a couple of them including QNB, Alijarah Holding and Nakilat having disclosed their net profits.
Industrials, consumer goods, telecom, transport and banking sectors were seen to outperform the key barometers with their indices gaining YTD 13.97%, 13.20%, 12.39%, 7.06% and 3.35% respectively; while that of real estate and insurance fell 3.26% and 0.17%.
Of the 42 stocks; only 17 advanced, while 22 declined, two were unchanged and one was not traded in the week that saw Qatar Financial Centre Authority say that sustained economic expansion has created considerable wealth in Qatar with the net investable wealth of affluent individuals in the country rising steeply to an estimated $40bn in 2013 compared with $25bn in 2009.
Six of the 12 banks and financial institutions; five of the eight industrials, three each of the eight consumer goods; the five insurers and the three transport and two of the four real estate sector stocks close lower in the week.
Market capitalisation shrank 0.69% or more than QR3bn to QR468.37bn with large, small and mid cap equities notably losing 1.28%, 0.93% and 0.74% respectively; while micro caps rose by a marginal 0.02%.
Mid and large cap equities have gained YTD 2.64% and 1.5%; while micro and small caps plunged 4.86% and 0.32% respectively.
The bourse's price-earning ratio, a measure of expensiveness, was 12.40 times in the second week of April against 12.10 times in the comparable period of 2012.
The price-to-book value was 1.68 times at the end of April 11 against 1.71 times in the year-ago period.
The dividend yield, which takes into account cash dividends, stood at 4.48% in the second week of April compared to 3.69% in the year-ago period.
Domestic institutions' net profit booking sunk to 25.90% or QR199.85mn. A marginally higher 15.80% of them were into buying against 14.27% the previous week while a lower 41.70% into selling compared to 50.85%.
Foreign institutions' net buying fell to 26.56% or QR204.95mn. A much lower 44.61% of them bought equities against 53.72% the week ended April 4 while whereas a higher 18.05% of them offloaded compared to 10.17%.
Qatari retail investors' net selling shrank to 1.16% or QR8.95mn. A higher 27.73% of them were into buying against 22.47% the previous week while a marginally lower 28.89% into selling compared to 29.38%.
Non-Qatari individual investors turned net buyers to the tune of 0.49% or QR3.78mn. A higher 11.86% of them purchased stocks against 9.55% the week ended April 4 and a higher 11.37% sold compared to 9.60%.
Total trading volume fell 12% to 19.26mn shares, value by 6% to QR771.64mn and transactions by 5% to 12,268 in the week.
In terms of volume, the banks and financial services stocks accounted for 31.41% of the total against 21.36% in the previous week, real estate 19.26% (25.68%) industrials 16.25% (20.09%), telecom 11.79% (5.91%), transport 10.49% (18.36%), consumer goods 10.12% (7.05%) and insurance 0.73% (1.55%).
The insurance sector's trading volume plummeted 59% to 0.14mn shares, transport by 50% to 2.02mn, realty by 34% to 3.71mn and industrials by 29% to 3.13mn; while that of telecom surged 75% to 2.27mn, banks and financial services by 29% to 6.05mn and consumer goods by 26% to 1.95mn.
In terms of value, the banks and financial services sector's shares constituted 30.95% of the total compared to 26.63% a week ago, industrials 28.65% (30.72%), consumer goods 17.18% (15.49%), real estate 10.15% (13.27%), telecom 6.64% (3.43%), transport 5.56% (8.63%) and insurance 0.85% (1.84%).
The insurance sector stocks' trading value plunged 57% to QR6.53mn, transport by 39% to QR42.89mn, realty by 28% to QR78.46mn and industrials by 12% to QR221.07mn; whereas that of telecom soared 83% to QR51.25mn, banks and financial services by 10% to QR238.85mn and consumer goods by 5% to QR132.60mn.
In terms of transactions, the banks and financial services sector's share in total was 34.58% against 24.29% the previous week, industrials 19.11% (20.48%), consumer goods 14.70% (15.64%), real estate 13.75% (19.05%), transport 8.47% (12.61%), telecom 8.02% (5.73%) and insurance 1.37% (2.21%).
The insurance sector stocks transactions tanked 41% to 168; transport by 36% to 1,039; realty by 31% to 1,687; industrials by 11% to 2,344 and consumer goods by 11% to 1,804; while those of banks and financial services gained 35% to 4,242 and telecom by 33% to 984.
In the debt market, a total of 20,000 treasury bills valued at QR198.50mn changed hands across four transactions.
© Gulf Times 2013
