Consumer goods, industrials and telecom lead buy interest

By Santhosh V Perumal/Business Reporter

The Qatar Exchange (QE) remained in the positive trajectory in the week on buying interests, especially in consumer goods, industrials and telecom; but put up a shoddy performance vis-à-vis other bourses in the Gulf region year-to-date (YTD).

Local retail investors’ lower net selling was mainly instrumental in lifting the 20-stock Qatar Index by 0.25% in the week that saw Kuwait gain 1.23%, Muscat (0.43%) and Saudi Arabia (0.27%); while Abu Dhabi fell 1.15%, Bahrain (0.74%) and Dubai (0.33%).

The Total Return Index shot up 1.34% but Al Rayan Islamic Index fell 0.11% in the week that saw the bourse announce that there will no changes to the companies represented in the QE and Al Rayan Islamic indices; even as Ahlibank did not qualify to be included in the All Share Index.

The QE Index rose 2.95% YTD, compared to Dubai’s stupendous gain of 17.71%, Kuwait (14.85%), Abu Dhabi (13.86%), Muscat (6.41%), Bahrain (4.88%) and Saudi Arabia (4.33%).

Major gainers included Doha Bank, QNB, Mawashi, Vodafone Qatar, Milaha, Ooredoo, Qatar Electricity and Water and Nakilat; even as Industries Qatar (IQ), Gulf International Services, Woqod, Qatari Investors Group, Barwa, United Development Company and Mazaya Qatar bucked the trend in the week that witnessed Commercialbank (Cb) expecting to complete the acquisition of Turkish Alternatifbank by June or July.

Nakilat, Barwa and Cb were among the most active by volume and value in the week that saw Qatar’s trade surplus surge 12% year-on-year (y-o-y) to QR96.69bn in the fourth quarter of 2012 with exports growing faster than imports.

The QE All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) gained 1.23% with the consumer goods index extending the maximum gains of 4.33%, industrials (2.3%), telecom (2.02%), transport (1.79%) and banks and financial services (0.49%); while that of insurance shrank 2.23% and real estate shrank 0.8% in the week that featured the re-branded Qatar First Bank seen expecting approval from the regulator to list its share at the bourse.

Industrials, consumer goods, telecom, transport and banking sectors were seen to outperform the key barometers with their indices gaining YTD 12.29%, 11.37%, 10.85%, 10.74% and 5.1% respectively; while that of realty and insurance fell 5.13% and 2.36%.

Of the 42 stocks; only 17 advanced, while 22 declined, two were unchanged and one was not traded in the week that saw Ernst and Young report that the Islamic assets in Qatar’s commercial banking industry expand 23% y-o-y in 2012, outgrowing the Gulf banking industry’s growth of 14%.

Five of the 12 banks and financial institutions, all of the three transport, two each of the eight industrials as well as the eight consumer goods, the five insurers and the two telecom and one of the four realty stocks closed lower in the week.

Market capitalisation rose 0.11% or QR51mn to QR469.84bn with mid cap equities notably gaining 4.54%; while small caps fell 0.32% in the week that saw Standard Chartered bank say that Qatar is set to witness higher inflation this year, mainly due to rising prices of building materials and other raw materials as well as higher domestic transport and logistics costs.

Mid and large cap equities have gained YTD 5.69% and 2.62%; while small and micro caps lost 4.69% and 2.24% respectively.

The bourse’s price-earning ratio, a measure of expensiveness, was 12 .52 times in the third week of March against 12.12 times in the comparable period of 2012.

The price-to-book value was 1.67 times at the end of March 21 against 1.68 times in the year-ago period.

The dividend yield, which takes into account cash dividends, stood at 4.44% in the third week of March compared to 3.81% in the year-ago period.

Qatari retail investors’ net selling sunk to 2.48% or QR24.49mn. A higher 33.44% of them were into buying against 30.9% the week ended March 14 whereas and a lower 35.92% into selling compared to 41.64%.

Non-Qatari individual investors’ net profit rose to 0.68% or QR6.72mn. A marginally higher 13.42% of them purchased stocks against 12.66% the previous week and a higher 14.1% sold compared to 12.14%.

Foreign institutions’ net buying shrank to 3.29% or QR32.49mn. A lower 32.94% of them bought equities against 40.73% the week ended March 14 and a marginally lower 29.65% of them offloaded compared to 30.78%.

Domestic institutions turned net profit takers to the tune of 0.12% or QR1.19mn. A higher 20.2% of them were into buying against 15.71% the previous week and a higher 20.32% into selling compared to 15.44%.

Total trading volume fell 39% to 21.92mn shares, value by 35% to QR987.55mn and transactions by 10% to 14,500 in the week that witnessed Nakilat Damen Shipyards Qatar sign a contract for the construction of a fast luxury vessel to be built entirely in Qatar.

In terms of volume, banks and financial services stocks accounted for 30.66% of the total against 23.16% in the previous week, transport 24.36% (20.67%), real estate 15.6% (32.14%), industrials 11.31% (14.39%), telecom 10.17% (6.09%), consumer goods 6.16% (1.85%) and insurance 1.73% (1.71%).

The realty sector’s trading volume plummeted 70% to 3.42mn shares, industrials by 52% to 2.48mn, insurance by 38% to 0.38mn, transport by 28% to 5.34mn and banks and financial services by 19% to 6.72mn; while that of consumer goods more than doubled to 1.35mn and telecom’s rose 3% to 2.23mn.

In terms of value, the banks and financial services’ shares constituted 30.98% of the total compared to 24.68% a week ago, industrials 27.23% (36.95%), consumer goods 16.03% (5.82%), transport 11.6% (9.65%), real estate 7.64% (17.48%), telecom 4.69% (3.55%) and insurance 1.84% (1.86%).

The realty sector’s stocks trading value plunged 71% to QR75.42mn, industrials by 52% to QR268.88mn, insurance by 35% to QR18.22mn, transport by 21% to QR114.54mn, banks and financial services by 18% to QR305.91mn and telecom by 14% to QR46.29mn; whereas that of consumer goods soared 80% to QR158.29mn.

IQ stocks accounted for 20.34% of the total stocks trading value, Woqod (11.13%) and Cb (9.37%).

In terms of transactions, the banks and financial services sector’s share in total was 34.01% against 30.49% the previous week, industrials 19.14% (18.16%), consumer goods 14.83% (8.34%), transport 13.2% (15.24%), real estate 11.34% (20.52%), telecom 4.88% (4.67%) and insurance 2.59% (2.57%).

The realty sector’s stocks transactions tanked 50% to 1,645; transport by 22% to 1,914; insurance by 9% to 376; telecom by 6% to 707 and industrials by 5% to 2,776; while those of consumer goods expanded 60% to 2,151 and banks and financial services by less than 1% to 4,931.