The QE Index has surged over 800 points in January this year making it the best monthly gain in over a decade for investors. The QE Index ended at 12,498 points on January 31 against the closing of 11,625 points on December 30 last year, marking a monthly gain of 873 points or 7.5 percent- which is the highest ever monthly rise in over 10 years.
The next best monthly performance by the local stocks was delivered in January 2014 when QE Index had jumped 776 points while the third biggest rise was observed in 2018 when the index had risen 681 points. The year 2013 was another remarkable year when the index had jumped 366 points in January.
In 2021 and 2020, the index had risen less than 50 points while in 2015 and 2016 the index had declined 3 percent and 9 percent, respectively.
Ahmed Akl, Doha based financial analyst
The rally in Qatar’s stock market was fuelled by sharp economic recovery aided by persistent fall in omicron cases, rise oil prices, gains in regional and global stock markets and expectations of better results from local companies. The rise in Qatar’s stock market is in sync with global stock markets, which have also risen in the last month, helped by significant improvement in economic situation.
“Investors got several positive news during January this year. Continuous fall in the case of omicron encouraged authorities to lift of restrictions on imposed on social and economic activities, which has boosted the pace of economic recovery in the country. Unlike Delta variant, omicron has proved to be milder which is good for economy. Now Qatar’s economy is expected to witness a sharp recovery now,” Ahmed Akl, Doha based financial analyst told The Peninsula. “Oil prices in the international market also continued their upward march during the month which has boosted the growth prospects for local companies. Also, QNB announced impressive results during January which has signaled that other companies in Qatar will also post good results,” added Akl.
Any fluctuation in crude oil prices impact performance of Qatari companies. Revenues of many companies listed on the local bourse are closely linked to oil prices. When oil prices go up, the revenue of these companies also rise which in turn push up their share prices.
January will also be remembered as month when all the indicators of the local bourse gave a stellar performance. The market capitalization reached QR718bn, total monthly trades were 247,566 and monthly traded value reached QR11.78bn in January.
