A strong buying, especially in the small and large cap equities, steered the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) into positive turf, making it the third best performer among the Gulf Cooperation Council bourses during the week.

Increased buying interests of foreign institutions and substantially reduced net selling by their domestic counterparts rather lifted the sentiments during the week which saw Qatar Central Bank stipulate that the listed insurance companies must hold capital above QR100mn.

The 20-stock Qatar Index rose 0.88% during the week which saw Capital Intelligence, the international credit rating agency, affirm Commercial Bank’s financial strength rating at ‘A-'.

In comparison, Bahrain fell sharply 2.4%, Saudi Arabia (2.01%), Muscat (1.2%) and Kuwait (0.75%); whereas Abu Dhabi and Dubai gained 1.35%  and 1.11% respectively during the week which saw Moody’s, a global credit rating agency, view that Qatar's commercial banks' credit growth is expected to fall to a more moderate 8% over the next 12 months.

QSE has however fallen 0.51% year-to-date against a plunge of 9.96% in Saudi Arabia, 6.97% in Bahrain and 6.88% in Kuwait; whereas Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Muscat gained 6.49%, 1.93% and 1.13% respectively.

Opening the week weak at 10,229 points, the QSE kept sliding on the subsequent day to reach a low of 10,145 points. It rebounded with resounding gains to 10,317 points, after which it marginally eased. There were strong buying interests on the last day to take the index to 10,376 points on Thursday.

Robust buying interests were seen particularly in the telecom, industrials, real estate and transport counters during the week which witnessed A M Best, a global insurance rating agency, hold that Qatar ranks as the least vulnerable to natural hazards; even as the GCC, touted as a ‘cat-free’ zone, is increasingly prone to floods, thus requiring the regional insurers assess and manage their exposure to this category of catastrophe.

However, there was increased net selling by local and non-Qatari individual investors during the week which saw QSE listed companies witness 3.65% decline in net profitability in 2015 mainly owing to double-digit net earnings plunge.

Islamic stocks witnessed faster gains than the conventional ones during the week which saw the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics disclose that Qatar’s trade surplus expanded 3% month-on-month to QR7.41bn in February this year; even as it fell 53.5% year-on-year.

 The 20-stock Total Return Index shrank 1.24% and All Share Index (comprising wider constituents) by 1.82% and Al Rayan Islamic Index 2.96% during the week which saw trading turnover and volumes on the decline.

Telecom stocks soared 8.24%, industrials (4.38%), realty (2.2%), transport (1.21%) and banks and financial services (0.15%); while consumer goods and insurance fell 0.25% and 0.11% respectively during the week which saw banking, industrials and real estate stocks constitute about 73% of the total trading volume.

Market capitalisation expanded 1.71% or more than QR9bn to QR554.03bn with small, large, micro and midcap equities gaining 7.58%, 1.38%, 0.78% and 0.34% respectively during the week which saw QIIB expects approval from authorities in Morocco by the end of third quarter this year for its joint venture with CIH Bank.

Small, mid and microcap stocks have gained year-to-date 4.44%, 3.32% and 1.91% respectively; even as large caps fell 2.8% during the week which saw Masraf Al Rayan, Barwa and Qatari Investors Group dominate the trading in volume and value.

Seven each of the 12 banks and financial services and the nine industrials; three each of the eight consumer goods and the four real estate; two each of the three transport and the two telecom; and one of the five insurance stocks closed lower during the week which also saw QIIB plans additional Tier sukuk up to QR3bn.

More than 58% of the stocks were in the red with major losers being Qatari Investors Group, Ooredoo, Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding, Barwa, Ezdan, Gulf Warehousing, Nakilat, Qatar Electricity and Water, al khaliji and Qatar Oman Investment; whereas QIIB, Islamic Holding Group, Al Meera, Mazaya Qatar and Qatar Islamic Bank bucked the trend during the week which saw an announcement from Qatar First Bank that it is all set to debut QSE in April end.

Foreign institutions’ net buying strengthened perceptibly to QR212.77mn compared to QR168.58mn the week ended March 24.

Domestic institutions’ net profit booking fell considerably to QR76.09mnn against QR113.48mn the previous week.

However, local retail investors’ net selling increased substantially to QR113.4mn compared to QR51.23mn the week ended March 24.

Non-Qatari individual investors’ net profit booking strengthened to QR23.27mn against QR3.87mn the previous week.

Total trade volume was down 6% to 48.39mn shares, value by 4% to QR1.85bn and transactions by 2% to 25,810 during the week.

 The consumer goods sector saw 58% plunge in trade volume to 2.79mn equities, 59% in value to QR129.02mn and 50% in deals to 2,144.

The insurance sector’s trade volume plummeted 41% to 0.58mn stocks, value by 19% to QR38.34mn and transactions by 25% to 576.

The banks and financial services sector reported 20% shrinkage in trade volume to 14.1mn shares, 20% in value to QR627.62mn and 11% in deals to 7,012.

The real estate sector’s trade volume declined 7% to 10.43mn equities; even as value rose 13% to QR252.85mn. Transactions were down 6% to 3,861.

However, the transport sector’s trade volume more than doubled to 4.21mn stocks and value also more than doubled to QR176.02mn on more than doubled deals to 2,503.

The telecom sector saw 49% surge in trade volume to 5.62mn shares, 90% in value to QR162.06mn and 49% in transactions to 3,987.

The industrials sector’s trade volume expanded 16% to 10.66mn equities, value by 15% to QR461.04mn and 3% in deals to 5,727.

In the debt market, there was no trading of treasury bills and government bonds during the week.