Eman Ghali
Mubasher: The Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) saw a positive performance for the second consecutive month in January, coinciding with achieving market gains of QAR 29.73 billion.
The QSE’s main index soared 7.99%, or 681.24 points, closing the first month of 2018 at 9204.62 points, compared to 8523.38 points in December.
In January, fresh investment and institutional portfolios have tapped the Qatari bourse that in return boosted its liquidity and trading volume over the month, Arqaam Capital CEO told Mubasher.
Walid Al Adly added that the general index will move upwardly over the coming period, targeting the level of 9450 points and having resistance at 9200 points.
Fifteen companies have announced positive disclosures and dividend distributions, the CEO noted, highlighting that the QSE will extend the bullish trend encouraged by investors’ optimism about the financial results of the remaining firms.
Profits of 15 of 45 QSE-listed companies grew 4.8% to QAR 5.26 billion in the fourth quarter of 2017, up from QAR 4.02 billion in the same period a year before, data compiled by Mubasher showed.
Meanwhile, Al Adly ascribed the bourse's downward movement over the last two sessions to the selling pressures and profit-taking.
The QSE’s market capitalisation jumped 6.3% to QAR 501.75 billion by the end of January versus QAR 472.02 billion in December.
Over the course of the month, the trading volume advanced 0.86% to 254.94 million shares compared to 252.77 million a month earlier, generating a liquidity of QAR 6.1 billion versus QAR 5.2 billion.
Similarly, transactions jumped 29.3% to 98,500 in January against 76,200 the previous month.
The real estate sector added 3.59% in January, while insurance and telecommunications sectors tumbled 2.48% and 0.26%, respectively.
The banking sector topped the stock market in terms of liquidity in January with 42.56%, followed by the industrial and real estate sectors which recorded 19.10% and 14.45%, respectively.
Translated by: Ahmed Shehata
