Strengthened global energy prices, industrials lift sentiments

Strengthened global energy prices and robust 2021 earnings of the underlying industrial equities had their reflection in the Qatar Stock Exchange, which gained a massive 154 points this week.The Gulf institutions were seen bullish as the 20-stock Qatar Index gained 1.22% this week, which saw Qatar continue to signal strong growth in non-energy private sector at the start of this year.Expecting the key index to surpass 13,000 levels; an economic analyst Abdulla al-Khater, as quoted by QNA, said the bourse is set to return to its pre-Covid levels, which is a clear evidence of the recovery that the listed companies are going through.“The index and the national economy benefit from the rise in oil prices in global markets and from the purchasing power of the dollar, considering the riyals link to the dollar, which means more stability for the QSE index,” he said.More than 53% of the traded constituents extended gains in the main market this week, which saw the Industries Qatar (IQ) report QR8.09bn net profit during 2021.Foreign funds continued to be net buyers but with lesser intensity this week, which saw Nakilat report QR1.35bn in net profit during 2021.The Islamic equities were seen gaining faster than the other indices this week, which saw Milaha’s 2021 net profit at QR724.15mn.The local retail investors’ net selling weakened considerably this week, which saw a total of 441,032 Doha Bank-sponsored exchange traded funds QETF valued at QR5.49mn change hands across 71 transactions.The domestic funds’ weakened net profit booking also had its influence in the market this week, which saw as many as 510,954 Masraf Al Rayan-sponsored QATR worth QR1.43mn trade across 77 deals.Market capitalisation saw more than QR6bn or 0.87% increase to QR731.16bn, mainly on large and midcap segments this week, which saw the industrials and consumer goods sectors together constitute about 65% of the total trade volume.The Total Return Index rose 1.22%, All Share Index by 0.58% and All Islamic Index by 1.47% this week which saw a global credit rating agency Capital Intelligence affirm long term and short term foreign currency rating of Qatar at ‘AA-‘.The industrials index soared 5.92%, telecom (1%) and consumer goods and services (0.78%); while transport declined 3.44%, real estate (1.84%), banks and financial services (0.94%) and insurance (0.27%) this week, which saw no trading of treasury bills.Major gainers in the main market included IQ, Inma Holding, Ooredoo, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Qamco, Salam International Investment, Qatar Oman Investment, Dlala, Alijarah Holding, Qatari German Medical Devices, Investment Holding Group and Qatar Islamic Insurance this week which saw no trading of sovereign bonds.Nevertheless, Qatar Industrial Manufacturing, Mannai Corporation, Doha Bank, Qatar General Insurance and Reinsurance, United Development Company, Commercial Bank, Ezdan, Milaha, Gulf Warehousing and Nakilat in the main market. In the venture market, both Al Faleh Educational Holding and Mekdam Holding saw their shares depreciate in value this week, which saw the overall trade volume and value on the increase.In the main market, the industrials sector accounted for 36% of the total trade volume, consumer goods and services (29%), banks and financial services (18%), real estate (8%), transport (4%), telecom (3%) and insurance (2%) this week.In terms of value, the industrials sector’s share was 43% of the total, banks and financial services (29%), consumer goods and services (13%), transport (6%), telecom (4%), realty (3%) and insurance (2%) this week.The Gulf institutions’ net buying increased markedly to QR55.49mn compared to QR36.93mn the week ended February 3.The Gulf individuals’ net buying grew perceptibly to QR1.51mn against QR0.57mn the previous week.The Arab institutions turned net buyers to the tune of QR0.93mn compared with net sellers of QR0.44mn a week ago.Qatari individuals’ net selling declined considerably to QR283.23mn against QR352.37mn the week ended February 3.The domestic funds’ net profit booking shrank drastically to QR94.5mn compared to QR107.59mn the previous week.However, the foreign individuals turned net sellers to the tune of QR15.34mn against net buyers of QR4.92mn a week ago.The Arab individuals were net sellers to the extent of QR0.83mn compared with net buyers of QR2.57mn the week ended February 3.The foreign institutions’ net buying weakened significantly to QR335.98mn against QR415.41mn the previous week.Total trade volume in the main market rose 5% to 901.95mn shares and value by 6% to QR3.1bn; while transactions were down 5% to 59,545.The consumer goods and services sector’s trade volume soared 96% to 259.51mn equities and value by 14% to QR393.7mn, while deals fell 2% to 7,210.There was 18% surge jump in the industrials sector’s trade volume to 322.59mn stocks, 64% in value to QR1.35bn and 17% in transactions to 18,562.However, the real estate sector’s trade volume plummeted 48% to 75.62mn shares, value by 54% to QR104.54mn and deals by 35% to 3,088.The market witnessed 40% plunge in the telecom sector’s trade volume to 24.44mn equities and 30% in value to QR111.31mn but on 1% jump in transactions to 4,051.The transport sector’s trade volume tanked 25% to 34.02mn stocks and value by 28% to QR176.07mn; whereas deals zoomed 12% to 4,792.The banks and financial services sector saw 16% contraction in trade volume to 165.5mn shares, 16% in value to QR896.85mn and 17% in transactions to 22,209.The insurance sector’s trade volume was down 5% to 20.27mn equities; while value jumped 8% to QR68.59n amidst 19% lower deals at 1,633.In the venture market, volumes dipped 70.46% to 3.3mn stocks, value by 69.18% to QR29.06mn and transactions by 58.55% to 1,198.