Three days of trading printed during the week and the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) index ended the week adding 19.38 points, or 0.17%, to close at 11,453.13. Market capitalisation increased by 0.1% to QR603.3bn versus QR602.4bn at the end of the previous week. Of the 43 listed companies, 24 ended the week higher, while 16 fell and 3 remained unchanged. Widam Food Co (WDAM) was the best performing stock for the week, with a gain of 3.6% on 128,044 shares traded. On the other hand, Doha Insurance Co (DOHI) was the worst performing stock with a decline of 3.5% on only 633 shares traded.
Masraf Al Rayan (MARK), Qatar Gas Transport Co (QGTS), and Gulf International Services (GISS) were the primary contributors to the weekly index gain. MARK was the biggest contributor, adding 20.5 points to the index. QGTS added 11.5 points, while GISS contributed 10.8 points. On the other hand, Industries Qatar (IQCD) contributed negatively to the index, erasing 18.1 points.
Trading value during the shortened week increased by 25.2% to reach QR806.6mn versus QR644.5mn in the prior week. The banks and financial services sector led the trading value during the week, accounting for 35.2% of the total trading value. The industrials sector was the second biggest contributor to the overall trading value, accounting for 29.1% of the total. QNB Group (QNBK) was the top value traded stock during the week with total traded value of QR115.3mn.
Trading volume increased by 20.6% to reach 17.2mn shares versus 14.2mn in the prior week. The number of transactions increased by 25.5% to reach 11,654 versus 9,283 in the prior week. The real estate sector led the trading volume, accounting for 23.4%, followed by the banks and financial services sector, which accounted for 22.7% of the overall trading volume. ERES was the top volume traded stock during the week with total traded volume of 1.9mn shares.
Foreign institutions turned bullish during the week with net buying of QR37.0mn versus net selling of QR38.8mn in the prior week. Qatari institutions turned bearish with net selling of QR38.6mn versus net buying of QR54.1mn the week before. Foreign retail investors remained bearish for the week with net selling of QR6.4mn versus net selling of QR708.9k in the prior week. Qatari retail investors turned bullish with net buying of QR8.1mn versus net selling of QR14.5mn the week before.
In 2015 year-to-date, foreign institutions bought (on a net basis) $622mn worth of Qatari equities.