An overall bullish momentum was witnessed on Qatar Exchange (QE) during the week, mainly on domestic institutions' buying interests.
However, the Qatari bourse's performance fell short of Dubai, Kuwait and Abu Dhabi markets year-to-date (YTD).
Transport, telecom and industrials were the most influential to lift the 20-stock Qatar Index by 1.81% in the review week that saw Kuwait add 4.25%, Dubai (2.56%), Saudi Arabia (0.67%) and Bahrain (0.47%); even as Muscat and Abu Dhabi bourses fell 0.92% and 0.23% respectively.
Foreign institutions were seen squaring off their position in the week that, otherwise, witnessed an addition of more than QR9bn in market capitalisation, mainly due to small and large cap segments.
The Total Return Index also surged 1.81% and Al Rayan Islamic Index 1.47% in the week that saw the listed banks put up a lackadaisical performance while insurers' net profitability gain during the first quarter of this year.
The QE Index had risen 4.66% YTD against Dubai's 31.2% gain, Kuwait (27.97%), Abu Dhabi (24.68%), Muscat (6.68%), Saudi Arabia (5.5%) and Bahrain (3.47%).
About 62% of the stocks extended gains to investors with major movers being Milaha, Vodafone Qatar, Alijarah Holding, Industries Qatar, Qatari Investors Group, United Development Company, Nakilat, QNB and Doha Bank; even as Widam Food, Barwa and Aamal Company bucked the trend in the week.
Barwa and Gulf International Services were among the most active by both volume and value in the week that saw the Qatar Financial Markets Authority approve the liquidity provision scheme that can be carried out by the financial services firms, which are members in Qatar Exchange.
The QE All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) gained 1.85% with the insurance group appreciating the maximum of 5.25%, transport (5.03%), telecom (3.04%), industrials (2.66%) and banks and financial services (0.97%); while consumer goods and realty fell 0.36% and 0.1% respectively in the week that witnessed Qatar Central Bank disclose that Islamic banks in Qatar have raised QR8bn through sukuks in the first quarter of this year.
Industrials, telecom, consumer goods, transport, insurance and banking sectors were seen to outperform the key barometers with their indices gaining YTD 21.57%, 15.47%, 13.24%, 12.12%, 5.41% and 5.05% respectively; while that of real estate fell 2.59%.
Of the 42 stocks; 26 advanced, while only 12 declined and two were unchanged. Two others were not traded in the week that witnessed al khaliji confirm that it had extended financing to Gulf Drilling International's purchase of a new jack up rig 'Al Jassra'.
Six of the 12 banks and financial institutions; five of the eight industrials; four of the five insurers; three each of the eight consumer goods, the four realty and the three transport; and all of the two telecom stocks closed higher in the week.
Market capitalisation expanded 1.96% to QR483.95bn with small, large, mid and micro cap equities gaining 2.14%, 1.86%, 1.04% and 0.4% respectively in the week that saw Milaha announce that it was contemplating share buyback.
Large, mid and small cap equities have gained YTD 4.91%, 4.3% and 3.33% respectively; while micro caps plunged 4.58%.
Domestic institutions turned net buyers to the tune of 4.04% or QR55.76mn. A marginally higher 23.53% of them were into buying against 22.01% the previous week whereas a lower 19.49% were into selling compared to 22.47%.
Foreign institutions' net buying plunged to 2.86% or QR39.48mn. A lower 26.53% of them bought equities against 28.89% the week ended April 25 while a higher 23.67% of them offloaded compared to 16.49%.
Qatari retail investors' net profit booking fell to 4.68% or QR64.60mn. A higher 39.37% of them were into buying against 37.13% the previous week and a higher 44.05% into selling compared to 42.72%.
Non-Qatari individual investors' net selling shrank to 2.21% or QR30.50mn. A marginally lower 10.58% of them purchased stocks against 11.97% the week ended April 25 and a lower 12.79% sold compared to 18.32%.
Total trading volume rose 28% to 38.51mn shares, value by 31% to QR1.38bn and transactions by 15% to 17,895 in the week.
In terms of volume, the real estate stocks accounted for 25.34% of the total against 29.63% the previous week, banks and financial services 21.32% (20.94%), telecom 16.52% (8.99%), industrials 14.62% (19.64%), consumer goods 11.69% (12.05%), transport 10.08% (8.02%) and insurance 0.44% (0.73%).
The telecom sector's trading volume more than doubled to 6.36mn shares, transport's surged 61% to 3.88mn, banks and financial services by 31% to 8.21mn, consumer goods by 24% to 4.50mn and realty by 10% to 9.76mn; while that of insurance declined 23% to 0.17mn and industrials by 5% to 5.63mn.
In terms of value, the banks and financial services stocks constituted 28.4% of the total compared to 24.94% a week ago, industrials 26.32% (36.11%), consumer goods 15.11% (12.85%), real estate 14.06% (14.28%), transport 8.28% (6.46%), telecom 7.25% (4.44%) and insurance 0.59% (0.92%).
The telecom sector stocks' trading value more than doubled to QR100.03mn, transport's soared 68% to QR114.28mn, consumer goods by 54% to QR208.53mn, banks and financial services by 50% to QR392.02mn and realty by 29% to Qr194.03mn; whereas that of insurance tanked 16% to QR8.13mn and industrials by 4% to QR363.30mn.
IQ equities accounted for 14.16% of the total stocks trading value, followed by Barwa (8.37%) and Commercialbank (8.16%).
In terms of transactions, the banks and financial services sector's share in total was 24.44% against 27.45% in the previous week, industrials 23.31% (28.39%), real estate 17.72% (17.47%), consumer goods 14.81% (14.85%), telecom 10.13% (4.42%), transport 8.81% (6.06%) and insurance 0.77% (1.37%).
The telecom sector stocks transactions more than doubled to 1,577; transport's expanded 93% to 1,813; realty by 17% to 3,171; consumer goods by 15% to 2,650 and banks and financial services by 3% to 4,374; whereas those of insurance fell 35% to 138 and industrials by 5% to 4,172.
In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills during the week.
© Gulf Times 2013
