By Bashir Yusuf Kahlout
For the second week in a row, Qatar Exchange (QE) continued to perform in line with the rest of the markets in the region amid reports of a possible US strike on Bashar Al Assad regime in Syria. Though the QE traded in green zone in early sessions of the week, the market later slipped into the red.
There was no news about the listed companies during the week, except two deals — the first was announcement of an acquisition by the National Leasing Company (NLCS) of Al Nassir driving school. The second was about a contract signed by Qafac with Gulf Warehousing Company whereby the latter would provide storage services for a period of three years for $6m.
As a result of the political developments, the benchmark index has dropped in the entire week’s sessions by a total of 414 points below that of the previous week. The all-share index and all-sector and indexes were down, and the total capitalisation loss was QR21bn falling to QR505.4bn.
In detailing the developments during the week, I could point out that the benchmark index dropped by 414.1 points, which is 4.31 percent, to reach 9204.9 points. The all-share index also dropped by 97.9 points, or 4.04 percent, to 2326.5 points.
The drop of the benchmark index and all-share index were based on the fall of stock prices in all sectors, where telecommunications sector decreased by 6.02 percent, followed by the consumer goods and services (4.71 percent), and the industrial index by 4.12 percent. The transportation sector index dropped to 3.86 percent, the banking sector index by 3.81 percent, and the real estate sector index dropped by 3.73 percent.
The decrease was a result of decline in the share prices of 39 companies, and rising stock prices of only two companies, which are Dlala (DBIS) and Qatar Industrial Manufacturing Company (QIMC), while cinema’s share price remained unchanged.
The share price of Gulf International (GISS) witnessed the highest drop by 7.92 percent, followed by Qatar German Co Med (QMD) by 7.09 percent. Al Meera fell by 7.07 percent and Ooredoo dropped 6.55 percent. While UDC lost 6.45 percent, Qatar Meat and Livestock share price fell by 6.07 percent.
In contrast, Dlala (DBIS) share price rose by significant 5.66 percent, and Qatar Industrial Manufacturing increased by 1.87 percent.
In terms of liquidity, the total trading value was reduced to QR1.4703bn and daily trading average decreased by 37.5 percent to QR294.1m, compared with QR470.3m the previous week. The total trading value of top six companies amounted to about QR700.5m, which was 47.6 percent of the total. The trading value of Industries Qatar topped with QR228.4m, followed by QNB valued at QR173.6m. UDC’s trading value amounted to QR 85.5m, and Al- Rayyan with QR83.3m. Al Khalij (KCBK) trading value reached QR64.85m and Commercial Bank of Qatar (CBQK) at QR64.84m.
The market capitalisation fell by QR21.bn to close at the end of the week at QR505.4bn. Qatar portfolios have bought a net worth QR96.6m, and non-Qatari individuals bought a net of QR2.5m. On other hand, the net selling by foreign portfolio wasworth QR59.5m.
To conclude, QE stock index continued to decline due to the strong impact of the late political developments, and dropped by 4.5 percent. The push down on the benchmark is associated with fall in all major groups including the total trading value, which fell to QR1.45bn in the week. It is likely that the financial markets will remain in turmoil due to the political uncertainties in Syria.
The Peninsula