Doha: The Qatar Stock Exchange’s general index continued its positive performance for the second consecutive week, recording a weekly increase of approximately 0.9 percent, closing at 11,067 points, despite a decline in the final trading session of the week amid selling pressure and profit-taking.
Investment Manager at Qatar Securities Company (QS) Ramzi Qasmieh told Qatar News Agency (QNA) that the week’s performance was marked by the index’s ability to break above the 11,000-point level, which represents one of the most prominent technical and psychological resistance levels. He added that closing at these levels strengthens the likelihood of the index turning this threshold into a key support level, which could contribute to stabilizing market performance in the coming period.
Qasmieh noted that while the final session of the week witnessed selling pressure, the overall outcome remained positive, particularly in terms of sectoral performance.
Commenting on this week’s trading, Qasmieh highlighted the positive trend, supported by the start of the earnings announcement season and cash dividend distributions. The banking sector’s results showed a marked improvement, particularly with the profit growth of both QNB and QIB, along with dividends that were better or higher than last year’s.
The Investment Manager at QS indicated that investors will be focused on the index’s direction next week, anticipating further financial results and dividend announcements. This comes as Gulf and foreign liquidity continues to be a key driver of the market, particularly concentrated on leading stocks, especially in the banking sector.
He pointed out that the financial sector topped the list of gainers with an increase of nearly 1.5 percent, followed by the transportation sector with gains of 1.4 percent. Meanwhile, the real estate sector declined by about 1.7 percent after the strong gains of the previous week, and the insurance sector also fell by approximately 1.4 percent.
Regarding stock performance, Cinema shares topped the list of the week’s top gainers with gains of nearly 9.5 percent, followed by Al Mannai with an increase of about 6.5 percent, and QNB, the heaviest-weighted stock in the index, with gains of around 2.7 percent. On the other hand, QGIR ranked among the biggest decliners, falling by 10 percent, followed by QLM and Dlala Holding, each down by nearly 4.5 percent.
