Qatar’s stock market celebrated the news of agreement between Qatar and Saudi Arabia to open airspace, land and sea borders as shares witnessed a sharp surge yesterday. The Qatar Stock Exchange (QE) Index jumped 141 points or 1.35 percent to close at 10,618.39 points, yesterday.
The rally in the bourse was comprehensive as all the sectoral indices ended in the green.
Foreign Minister of the State of Kuwait, H E Sheikh Dr. Ahmed Nasser Al Mohammad Al Sabah announced on Monday night that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the State of Qatar reached an agreement to open airspace as well as land and sea border starting tonight.
Investors were ready for the trade as soon as the market began. Within a few minutes of opening of the market, the index surged from 10,477 points to 10,664 points, which was the highest level of the day. The investors and traders kept a close watch on news relating to the 41st session of the Supreme Council of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC), held yesterday at which was held at Maraya Center in Al-Ula governorate in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
After the initial trade, the rally took a breather and the index came down and hovered at 10560- 10580 level for a while. However, the market again regained its momentum and index shot up to 10626 points and closed the day at 10,618.39 points.
Among the indices, QSE Total Return Index increased 1.35 percent to close at 20,413.51 points and QSE Al Rayan Islamic Index gained 0.79 percent to finish the day at 4,323.12 points. QSE All Share Index went up 1.34 percent to close at 3,259.93 points.
In yesterday’s trade, the volume of shares traded increased to 370.3 million from 105.27 million and the value of shares increased to QR646.27m from QR245.60m. Top gainers were Qatar Gas Transport Company (Nakilat) and Qatar Insurance which surged 3.5 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively. Among the top losers, Qatar Cinema & Film Distributing fell 8 percent, while Qatar General Insurance & Reinsurance Company was down 3.7 percent.
Qatar’s stock market has shown resilience in 2020. The QE Index had surged around 2,375 points or 29 percent since March when it had declined to 8,160 points, which was the lowest point of the year.
