After past couple of weeks’ muted performance, Qatar stocks rebounded yesterday as investors took refuge in blue chips. The benchmark index surged 1.71 percent or 169.59 points to close at 10105.06.
Outperforming global stocks in 2018, Qatar benchmark index closed at a high 10,299.01 at the year-end. Since then, the market has been undergoing a correction phase as it slipped to 9,781 points by the end of the first week of this month.
The surge in stocks yesterday comes as investors increasingly bet on blue-chips. Gulf International (GISS) jumped 6.73 percent as the Mesaieed Petrochemical (MPHC) soared 5.79 percent. The jump in these energy-sensitive stocks is triggered by Qatar’s $10bn Energy Bank announcement. The Energy Bank will focus on funding projects related to oil and gas, petrochemicals and renewable energy. The bank is expected to be operational by fourth-quarter 2019, Moody’s said yesterday.
Banking major QNB was up by 2.09 percent and Commercial Bank surged 3.63 percent. International Islamic gained 1.44 percent. Qatar Fuel, which announced its massive plans to boost fuel sales, on Monday, advanced 4.21 percent. Qatar Fuel and Mesaieed Petrochemical could also be included in the MSCI emerging market index next month. “This is primarily local as well as global investors, taking an active allocation in the names prior to their index inclusions and given the lack of liquidity in some of these names, this has led to the significant rally in prices,” Rami Jamal, portfolio manager at Amwal in Doha, told Reuters.
KAMCO analysts earlier said the medium-term investors can re-enter the market at levels higher than 10,000 point, while long-term investors can stay in the market with a stop-loss below 9,500 point.
In a note sent to The Peninsula, Marmore MENA Intelligence said it had identified and analyses top 30 GCC stocks using metrics such as Return On Invested Capital (ROIC) and Dividend Yield and Earning Yield(RODE). Qatar companies and Saudi companies constituted 30 percent of theses top RODE stocks.
Source from: The Peninsula