Tribune News Network
Doha
Financial analyst Ahmed Aql said on Thursday he expects the performance of Qatari stocks to improve in the final quarter of 2022, pushed by forecast economic growth of 5.2 percent and fiscal surpluses.
Aql told QNA said that the recession threat looming over many international economies is nowhere to be found in Qatar, something that should enhance the country’s stock performance, despite the impact of rising interest rates on hot money that leaves financial markets when rates rise.
He noted that a 4-5 percent rate is a real headwind on equities, as they raise the required return on equities. He said that the market needs attractive profits and dividends, but maintained that this was difficult given many companies will want to reinvest their profits for the long term.
Meanwhile, the main index of the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) declined 345.79 points, or 2.8 percent, during the week to close at 11,867.24 points. Market capitalisation decreased by 2.2 percent to reach QR663.4 billion (bn) compared with QR678.6bn at the end of the previous trading week.
Of the 46 traded companies, 39 ended the week lower, 6 ended higher and one remained unchanged. Mannai Corporation (MCCS) was the worst-performing stock for the week, moving down 7.9 percent. Meanwhile, Estithmar Holding was the best-performing stock for the week, gaining 13.6 percent.
Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), Industries Qatar (IQ), and Ooredoo were the primary contributors to the weekly index decline.QIBK and IQCD removed 107.20 and 73.50 points from the index, respectively. Further, ORDS knocked off another 33.68 points.
The traded value during the week went up 0.8 percent to reach QR2,096.2 million from QR2,079.1 million in the prior trading week. QNB Group (QNBK) was the top-value traded stock during the week with a total traded value ofQR353.2 million.
Traded volume increased 15.9 percent to 606.9 million shares compared to 523.5 million shares in the prior trading week. The number of transactions decreased 2 percent to 70,621 against 72,079 in the prior week. Estithmar Holding was the top volume traded stock during the week with a total traded volume of 86.3 million shares.
Foreign institutions turned slightly bullish, ending the week with net buying of QR4 million against net selling of QR45.8 million in the previous week. Qatari institutions remained bearish with a net selling of QR71.2 million against net selling of QR12.1 million in the week before. Foreign retail investors ended the week with net buying of QR26.8 million against net buying of QR36.1 million in the prior week. Qatari retail investors remained bullish with a net buying of QR40.4 million against a net buying of QR21.8 million the week before.
According to an estimate by QNB Financial Services (QNBFS), As of Thursday, foreign institutions were net buyers of Qatari stocks worth $4.36 billion since the start of this financial year.
