Shrugging of the impact of challenges posed by COVID-19, Qatar’s stock market has delivered impressive performance. Helped by the positive news about the news coronavirus vaccine by Pfizer and US election outcomes, the QE index has risen around 400 points in the past few days and has crossed 10,000 mark. After witnessing upsurge for five trading sessions, the index took a breather and closed at 10,119.69 points, with a marginal decline of 12 points, yesterday.
Several companies have achieved significant milestones during these testing times. Nakilat announced yesterday that it has been added to the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Emerging Markets Large Cap Index as a constituent of the MSCI Qatar Large Cap index, effective as of the market close of November 30, 2020. This comes following Morgan Stanley Capital International Inc’s (MSCI) Semi-Annual Index Review (SAIR) and its subsequent announcement on November 10.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Large Cap Index is one of the widely used international equity benchmarks by institutional investors. MSCI is a leading provider of global equity indices and benchmark related products and services to investors worldwide. The company’s inclusion by MSCI demonstrates the great confidence of capital markets in Nakilat. An MSCI inclusion will be viewed positively by the global investor community and enhances Nakilat’s profile worldwide.
Despite challenging environment, Qatari companies have delivered strong earnings growth in the third quarter of this year. This is possible due to the wise vision of Qatar’s leadership and proactive policies executed by government departments. Qatar has taken several measures in the past which has made its economy resilient and strong.
Qatar had announced a financial package amounting to QR75bn to help support the private sector during the outbreak. Despite the challenges facing the global economy, including the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the economy has managed to maintain its high credit ratings with a stable outlook.
This week, S&P Global Ratings has affirmed Qatar’s sovereign credit rating at AA-/Stable/A-1+, with a stable outlook. The agency noted that despite the sharp COVID-19-induced decline in economic activity and low hydrocarbon prices, income levels in Qatar remain among the highest of rated sovereigns, supporting its strong credit profile. High GDP per capita, rebounding to an average of $61,600 in 2021-2023 from a low of $56,500 in 2020, will mitigate the effect of weak trend growth expected over the forecast horizon.
Despite low oil prices, S&P expects Qatar would continue to generate surpluses in its budgetary accounts on the general government level.
