DOHA: Qatar stocks edged higher in February on blue chips. The benchmark index rose a moderate 4.59 percent to finish the month at 12,445 points. Banking, real estate and industrial stocks were the main support.
Market capitalisation rose by 4.09 percent to QR675bn at the end of February. International Islamic, Al Rayan, Ezdan, Barwa and Vodafone were the top gainers of the month.
Vodafone surged 18.99 percent and International Islamic jumped 11.87 percent. Al Rayan gained 7.37 percent. Ezdan and Barwa soared 11.16 percent and 10.56 percent, respectively. Of the 43 companies listed, 33 ended the month higher, while 10 fell.
Trading value during the month increased by 22.30 percent to QR12bn compared to the previous month. Total trading volume increased by 62.13 percent to 337 million shares. The number of transactions rose by 6.94 percent to 135,557 transactions.
The banking and financial services sector led trading value accounting for 28.35 percent of the total trading value, followed by real estate sector and industrials. The real estate sector led trading volume, accounting for 32.72 percent of the total trading volume, followed by telecoms sector, the banking and financial sector, the consumer goods and services and transportation sector.
In the past week, the benchmark index slipped 0.41 percent, with the consumer goods and services sector losing the most. The sector shed 3.53 percent or 266 points compared to the previous week. Real estate and Telecoms sectors fell by 1.81 percent and 1.14 percent, respectively.
Market capitlaisation fell by 0.33 percent from the previous week. Trading value during the week decreased by 14.74 percent to QR2.27bn. Trading volume decreased by 23.03 percent to more than 48 million shares. Widam and Ezdan were top losers of the week.
Vodafone Qatar led trading value during the week, accounting for 10.29 percent of the total trading value, followed by Barwa and QNB.
The banking and financial service sector led trading value during the week, accounting for 32.34 percent of the total value. The telecom sector led trading volume, followed by real estate sector and the banks and financial services sector.
Twenty-three companies fell this week, while 19 ended higher and one remained unchanged. Yesterday, the market ended marginally low. The main index fell by 0.21 percent or 26 points down.
The Peninsula
