The Group Securities Weekly Report on QSE Performance, 22-26 October 2017

Despite the strong performance of the stock market on Wednesday and Thursday and non-occurrence of new falls, yet, the closing of the week was not better than the previous one. The general index fell again 44 points, bringing the cumulative decline from the beginning of the year to 22.1%. The performance was negatively affected by the decline in the financial results of 20 companies that were disclosed during the week with the net profit falling to QR 24.7 Billion.
The general index fell 44 points, or 0.54%, to 8128 points. All sectoral indices fell and the most falling one was the insurance index which dropped with the rate of 4.65% followed by transport sector index 3.06%. The share price of Al Khaleej Takaful Insurance Company was the biggest loser by the rate of 7.73%, followed by Islamic Holding Group 7.73% then Qatari Investors Group share price 7.58%, Al-Ijarah share price 7.04% and Qatar Insurance share 6.36%. Doha Bank's share price was the most rising by the rate of 5.92% followed by the Islamic Insurance 2.80%.

The total volume of trading in a week rose by 2.21% to the level of QR 762.6 Million, the daily average rose to QR152.5 Million. Trading on QNB share took the lead with the value of QR 108 Million, followed by Qatar Electricity and Water Company share worth QR 84.8 Million. Then Qatar First Bank share valued at QR 81.8 Million. Foreign portfolios bought net worth QR 114.6 Million while Qatari portfolios sold net worth QR 84.9 Million. Qatari individuals amounted to QR 26.7 Million and non-Qatari individuals sold net worth QR 3 Million. As a result, the total capitalization of the stock market shares declined QR 4.1 Billion to QR 442.2 Billion, but P/E ratio rose to 12.09 from 11.82 a week earlier.

Corporate News:
20 companies disclosed their financial statements for the period of 9 months, bringing the number of companies which disclosed to 37 and only 8 companies remain. The total profit recorded for all these companies amounted to about QR 24.7 Billion, down by 6.5% compared to the situation in the corresponding period last year. Interested parties can view on The Group website all the financial results and The Group Company’s comments on them. 

Economic Developments:
1. Banks consolidated balance sheet for the month of September was released during the week showing a rise in bank assets / liabilities worth QR 19 Billion to reach QR 1336.8 Billion. Government and public sector deposits rose QR 7.3 Billion to QR 302.7 Billion and the government and public sector loans declined by about QR 5 Billion to QR328.9 Billion. Total bonds and T-bills rose QR 17.5 Billion to QR146.3 Billion   while the private sector loans marginally increased to QR 453.9 Billion.

2. OPEC oil price rose by $ 0.93 a barrel to $ 56.52 a barrel, compared to $ 55.52 a barrel last week.

3. The Dow Jones rose 105 points to a historic high of 23434 points. US dollar exchange rate rose to $ 1.16 per euro and settled at 113.67 yen per dollar. Gold price   fell $ 8 per ounce to $ 1274.