Qatar’s stock market has once again proven its resilience. The bourse marked a milestone on August 1 as it recouped all its losses from the unjust blockade imposed on Qatar by siege countries, bringing smiles on the faces of investors.
The QSE index gained 373.33 points, or 3.89 percent when the bourse closed on Thursday at 9,981.22 points. Investors at the exchange became QR26.75bn richer as the market capitalisation rose by 5.11 percent to reach QR550.53bn. The bourse is among the world’s biggest gainers this year.
The bourse index has delivered 17.05 percent since the beginning of the year until the close of trading session on August 1, making it the best performing market across emerging and developed markets globally. This year, the market has seen $1.45bn in foreign net inflows that demonstrates confidence in the outlook for Qatar, particularly among foreign investors.
Qatar Stock Exchange CEO Rashid bin Ali Al Mansoori highlighted that the positive performance reflects the strong fundamentals of Qatar’s economy and the investment attractiveness of the QSE and its listed companies.
He stressed that Qatar Stock Exchange has proven its ability to overcome the challenges of the economic blockade, which brought the best out of Qatar’s capital market, and performance has exceeded expectations with positive results on all levels.
The role of Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA) in promoting and fortifying the state’s financial market drew huge praise from H E Sheikh Abdulla bin Saoud Al Thani, Governor of Qatar Central Bank (QCB) and Chairman of QFMA.
“The efforts of the QFMA and financial sector regulators during the second half of 2017 particularly resulted in achieving a record success and addressing the attempts of the unjust blockade imposed on the State to harm the Qatari financial sector,” he said.
The QFMA is exerting great and continuous efforts to ensure maintaining the achievements and gains of the Qatari capital markets to its leading position in the region and the world, as per stated by several international classifications issued by major specialised agencies and international financial institutions.
The QCB Governor pointed that the results of such classifications are clearly visible in the continued growth of the Qatari market on the emerging market status, after the upgrade from a frontier market on more than one index, to be one of the best and largest financial markets in the region, as well as maintaining an advanced ranking in Financial Market Development Index based on the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Global Competitiveness Report.
With effective measures and policies supporting the market in place, it is clear that Qatar Stock Exchange will achieve more milestones and rise to newer heights in the days to come.
