A ?le picture of QSE headquarters building located in West Bay.
Despite restrictive measures due to COVID-19 pandemic, the GCC markets once again witnessed gains across all markets and most sectors during August-2020, resulting in an aggregate monthly gain of 6.2 percent for the S&P GCC Total return index. Qatar’s QSE-20 index went up by 5.1 percent (month-on-month) against the gain of 4.1 percent in July, with the index closing at 9845.17 points. The Qatar All Share index which maps the broader market, also gained by 4.3 percent, as most sectors closed in the green for the month.
The Kamco Invest’s “GCC Markets Monthly Report” noted QSE’s Industrials index was the best performing index, as it jumped by 13.2 percent m-o-m, with Industries Qatar (+26.1 percent), Aamal Holding (+20.9 percent) and QAMCO (+16.6 percent), all witnessing significant double digit increases for the month.
The Consumer Goods & Services index also moved up by 10.3 percent m-o-m, with Salam International (+41.8 percent) and Qatar Fuel (14.3 percent) ending the month as the sector’s biggest gainers. The Real Estate index was also up by 7.3 percent m-o-m, driven mainly by gains from Mazaya Qatar (+37.8 percent) and Barwa Real Estate (+7.8 percent). Telecoms (-0.2 percent) and Transportation (- 0.7 percent) were the only indices to close marginally in the red in August 2020. As per FTSE’s semiannual September-2020, Ezdan Holding will be migrated from mid-cap to large-cap in the index.
Qatar National Cement,Islamic Holding and Mannai Group will be added to microcap, while Qatar Islamic Insurance will be deleted from the micro-cap index.
In terms of H1-2020 earnings, QSE-listed companies disclosed financial results that show a net profit of QR15.8bn as compared to QR 19.6bn for H1-2019, representing a decrease of 19.68 percent. GISS Group’s revenue for H1-2020 grew by 6 percent y-o-y, to reach QR1.6bn, driven by growth across all the business segments, with the exception of drilling segment.
For H1- 2020, the Group posted a net profit QR54m, an increase of 84 percent compared to H1-2019. Industries Qatar announced the proposed purchase of Qatar Petroleum’s 25 percent stake in Qatar Fertiliser Company (“QAFCO”), and for a proposed purchase consideration of $1.0bn. As part of the transaction, QAFCO has entered into a new GSPA with Qatar Petroleum with effect from 1st August 2020 until 31st December 2035, covering the gas requirements of QAFCO trains 1-6 and Qatar Melamine Company (“QMC”). In addition, and as part of the same transaction, IQ’s Board of Directors also approved QAFCO’s acquisition of Qatar Petroleum’s 40 percent stake in QMC, effective 1st July 2020. Separately, Industries Qatar announced that S&P and Moody’s Investors Service have both recently affirmed IQ’s credit ratings. S&P affirmed IQ’s credit rating at ‘A+’ with a stable outlook.
Moody’s affirmed IQ’s long-term rating at A1 with a stable outlook. Trading activity was down during August-2020 as value traded decreased by 10.7 percent m-o-m, to reach QR9.78bn as compared to QR10.95bn during Jul-2020, while volumes traded decreased by 29.2 percent to reach 5.76 billion shares in August-2020, as against 6.67 billion shares in the month prior.
In terms of trading activity, QNB topped the monthly value traded chart with QR817m worth of shares traded, followed by Qatar Aluminum Manufacturing and Qatar German Co for Medical Devices recording QR498m and QR488m in monthly value traded. In terms of traded volumes, Investment Holding Group led all companies with 740 million shares being traded during August-2020. Salam International Investment and QAMCO followed with 714.3 million and 527 million shares traded during the month. Salam International Investment was the top performing stock in the index for the month as its share price was up by 41.8 percent m-o-m.
Mazaya Qatar and Industries Qatar followed with gains of 37.8 percent and 26.1 percent respectively m-o-m. On the other hand, shares of Qatar Investors Group witnessed the most declines, losing 3.2 percent m-o-m. Qatar Gas Transport & GISS followed with declines of 2.7 percent each for the month.
