Market cap soars past QR700 bn as QSE rally continues unabated

Satyendra Pathak Doha Continuing its stellar performance for the second week in a row this year, the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) index increased 358.99 po...

Satyendra Pathak Doha Continuing its stellar performance for the second week in a row this year, the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) index increased 358.99 points, or 3 percent to close at 12,318.12 points during this week.The week saw QSE’s market capitalisation increase by 3.05 percent to rise above the QR700 billion mark.The combined wealth of investors soared to QR700.3 billion this week as compared to QR679.6 billion at the end of the previous week. The rally was mainly driven by foreign investors who remained bullish throughout the week. Foreign institutions remained bullish, closing the week with net buying of QR798 million against net buying of QR251 million in the previous week.Foreign retail investors also remained bullish to close the week with net buying of QR5 million against net buying of QR27 million in the previous week.Qatari institutions, however, remained negative with net selling of QR474 million against net selling of QR130 million in the week before. Qatari retail investors also remained bearish with net selling of QR330 million against net selling of QR147 million the week before.Trading value during the week surged by 80.9 percent to QR2,890 million against QR1,597.4 million in the previous trading week.QNB Group (QNB) was the top value traded stock during the week with a total traded value of QR667.1 million.Trading volume jumped by 61.8 percent to 878.6 million shares against 542.9 million shares in the previous trading week. Salam International was the top volume traded stock during the week with a total traded volume of 115.3 million shares.The number of transactions also went up by 43.3 percent to 56,440 against 39,400 in the previous week. Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), QNB Group (QNB) and Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding (MPHC) were the primary contributors to the weekly index gain. QIB and QNB added 88.6 and 74.0 points to the index, respectively. Moreover, MPHC added another 42.2 points to the index.MPHC was the best performing stock for the week, with a gain of 9.95 percent. On the other hand, Qatar Cinema was the worst-performing stock with a decline of 4.05 percent.Of the 47 traded companies this week, 41 closed the week higher, while six stocks ended lower. Indices of all the seven sectors listed on the bourse closed in the positive territory at the end of the week.The banks and financial services sector index, which gained 3.67 percent on the back of better than expected financial results of its main constituent QNB, was the best performing sector index for the week.QNB, the Gulf region’s biggest bank by assets, this week reported a 10 percent increase in annual net profit driven by loan growth.Its 2021 net profit rose to QR13.2 billion ($3.6 billion), QNB said in a statement, up from QR12 billion a year earlier.The results were slightly above analyst estimates, which expected the company to report about QR12.7 billion, according to data from Refinitiv.The real estate sector also gained more than 3.5 percent to become the second-best performing sector index for the week. The consumer goods and services sector gained 94.71 points, 1.16 percent, to 8,255.21 points.The industries sector increased to 99.64 points, 2.39 percent, to 4,271.67 and the insurance sector gained 35.07 points, 1.34 percent, to 2,649.18 points.The telecom sector increased 11.05 points, 1.03 percent, to 1,082.34 points and the transportation sector added 85.02 points, 2.36 percent, to 3,688.37 points.