(MENAFN- Gulf Times)

Market Eye

Strengthened oil prices and brighter prospects of rate cut in the US were seen lifting the sentiments in the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE), resulting in key index gain as much as 285 points to touch the highest level since December 2022.
The banks, transport and telecom counters witnessed higher than average demand as the 20-stock Qatar Index zoomed 2.51% this week which saw the QSE index committee undertake review in its quarterly exercise and decide to maintain status quo in the components.
The foreign individuals were seen net buyers this week which saw Gulf International Services generate a net profit of QR408m in the first half of 2025.
As much as 65% of the traded constituents extended gains to investors in the main market this week which saw AlRayan Bank go live with Finastra corporate channels, enhancing and streamlining its corporate digital banking services.
The Gulf retail investors turned bearish, albeit at lower levels, in the main bourse this week which saw Apex Health, a subsidiary of Estithmar Holding, obtain an investment license to develop a comprehensive private hospital with 400 beds in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital.
The local retail investors' weakened net selling had its influence on the main market this week which saw Gulf Warehousing Company (GWC) disclose that it is in the process of acquiring a 16.15% equity stake in Germany's ANCLA Logistik for a total consideration of 8.2mn euro, funded entirely from the group's internal resources.
The foreign funds continued to be net buyers but with lesser intensity in the main bourse this week which saw Mannai Corporation report net profit of QR69.91mn in H1-2025.
The Gulf institutions also continued to be net profit takers but with lesser vigour in the main market this week which saw Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding's (MPHC) Q1-2025 net profit at QR378.71mn.
The domestic funds were seen increasingly bearish in the main bourse this week which saw a total of 0.05mn AlRayan Bank-sponsored exchange traded fund QATR worth QR0.11mn trade across 33 deals.
The Arab individuals were increasingly net sellers in the main market this week which saw 0.02mn Doha Bank-sponsored exchange-traded fund QETF valued at QR0.31mn change hands across 34 transactions.
The Islamic index was seen gaining slower than the other indices of the main market this week, which saw no trading of sovereign bonds.
Market capitalisation added QR16.56bn or 2.45% to QR692.84bn on the back of large and midcap segments this week which saw no trading of treasury bills.
Trade turnover and volumes were on the increase in the main and venture markets this week which saw the consumer goods and realty sectors together constitute about 64% of the total trade volumes.
The Total Return Index shot up 2.56%, the All Islamic Index by 1.96% and the All Share Index by 2.53% this week which saw Qatar Insurance earn net profit of QR374.78mn in January-June 2025.
The banks and financial services sector index soared 3.54%, transport (2.87%), telecom (2.81%), consumer goods and services (2.08%), real estate (0.92%), insurance (0.43%) and industrials (0.26%) this week which saw QLM's H1-2025 net profit at QR42.6mn.
The market was skewed towards movers with 35 constituents extending gains, while 18 declined this week which saw Commercial Bank participate in the recent rights issue of United Arab Bank, subscribing to 409.73mn new shares at 1AED per share.
Major gainers in the main market included Baladna, Estithmar Holding, Salam International Investment, Al Faleh Educational Holding, Milaha, QNB, Qatar Islamic Bank, Commercial Bank, Doha Bank, AlRayan Bank, Ezdan, Mazaya Qatar and Ooredoo. In the juniour bourse, Techno Q saw its shares appreciate in value this week.
Nevertheless, Mannai Corporation, Doha Insurance, Qatar Cinema and Film Distribution, Al Mahhar Holding, MPHC, Widam Food, Vodafone Qatar and GWC were among the shakers in the main market this week.
The foreign retail investors turned net buyers to the tune of QR1.02mn compared with net sellers of QR5.26mn the previous week.
The Gulf individuals were net buyers to the extent of QR0.25mn against net profit takers of QR0.25mn the week ended August 7.
The local individual investors' net selling weakened drastically to QR70.65mn compared to QR214.55mn a week ago.
However, the domestic funds' net profit booking expanded considerably to QR88.49mn against QR27.97mn the previous week.
The Arab retail investors' net selling strengthened perceptibly to QR8.57mn compared to QR8.03mn the week ended August 7.
The Arab institutions' net profit booking increased marginally to QR0.68mn against QR0.28mn a week ago.
The foreign institutions' net buying decreased substantially to QR130.78mn compared to QR204.91mn the previous week.
The Gulf institutions' net buying shrank significantly to QR36.34mn against QR51.45mn the week ended August 7.
The main market saw 38% surge in trade volumes to 1.44bn shares, 30% in value to QR2.91bn and 2% in deals to 116,920 this week.
In the venture market, trade volumes grew more than five-fold to 0.58mn equities and value also rose more than five-fold to QR1.58mn on more than doubled transactions to 89.

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