Satyendra Pathak Doha Qatari stocks maintained upward momentum for the third consecutive week as the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) general index gained 254.59 points, or 1.94 percent, during the week to close at 13,376.64 points. The bull run throughout the week resulted in QSE market capitalisation increasing by 2.9 percent to reach QR743.3 billion compared with QR722.1 billion at the end of the previous trading week. The gains were mainly led by foreign institutions that remained bullish, closing the week with net buying of QR285.6 million against net buying of QR93.6 million in the previous week.Foreign retail investors, however, closed the week with net selling of QR49.7 million against net selling of QR26 million in the previous week.According to an estimate by QNB Financial Services (QNBFS), foreign institutions were net buyers of Qatari stocks worth $3.64 billion since the start of this financial year.The week saw Qatari institutions turn bearish with net selling of QR106.2 million against net buying of QR93.4 million in the week before. Qatari retail investors also remained bearish with net selling of QR129.7 million against net selling of QR161.1 million the week before.Trading value during the week increased 40 percent to QR3,666.7 million from QR2,618.4 million in the previous trading week.Estithmar Holding (IGRD) was the top valued traded stock during the week with a total traded value of QR532.6 million.Traded volume surged up 57.9 percent to 1,423.7 million shares against 901.7 million shares in the previous trading week. Estithmar Holding was the top volume traded stock during the week with a total traded volume of 246.1 million shares.The number of transactions went up by 13.1 percent to 99,182 against 87,659 in the previous week.QNB Group, Masraf Al Rayan and Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) were the primary contributors to the weekly index gain. QNB Group and Masraf Al Rayan added 97.60 and 48.61 points to the index, respectively. Further, QIB added another 23.79 points to the index.Ezdan Holding was the best performing stock for the week rising 17.3 percent. On the other hand, Qatar Navigation was the worst performing stock for the week, declining 4.2 percent.The week saw five of the seven sector indices close in the positive territory. The banks and financial services index, which gained 3.38 percent on the back of almost six percent rise in its main constituent QNB, was the best performing sector index for the week.The real estate index, which gained almost 3 percent led by gains of over 17 percent in Ezdan Holding, was the second best performing sector index for the week.Of the 46 traded companies during the week, 36 stocks closed the week higher, while 10 closed in the negative territory.The QSE index had carried its strong performance so far this year into the first week of August, benefiting from strong earnings reports. Financial analyst Zakariya Abdulaziz said a number of factors helped the index’s gains, although he noted that there was some profit-taking. He told QNA that the country’s macroeconomic picture was one of the biggest catalysts for the gains, with the Qatari economy forecast to grow 3.4 percent this year thanks to the oil sector and growing foreign reserves, in addition to hosting the World Cup later in the year which will boost economic activity.He noted that news of the first Ukrainian grain shipment had a positive impact on investor sentiment, which drove local and foreign funds to start buying. He highlighted that the strong earnings results from the listed companies also drove the stock prices higher.
