Qatar Stock Index Dips 948 Points in January

Doha, February 01 (QNA) - Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) index dropped 948.06 points, or -9.09% in January when it closed trading at 9,481.30 points. In December 2015, the bourse had closed the month in the green, up 338.55 points or +3.36% to 10,429.36 points. The market capitalization fell -8.32% at the end of 21 trading days in January to QR 507.138 Billion compared to QR 553.176 Billion from 22 trading days in December. The traded turnover decreased -13.77% to QR 5.049 Billion in January compared to QR 5.855 Billion registered in December 2015. The volume of shares exchanged in January was up +3.84% to 149,706,076 compared with 144,168,592 shares in December. The number of transactions in January increased +1.01% to 84,665 compared to 83,822 in the previous month. Banks and financial services topped the sectorial turnover in January with 39.79% of the total turnover followed by industries (26.29%), real estate (13.73%), consumer goods and services (8%), telecoms (6.40%), transport (4.16%) and insurance (1.62%). Banks and financial services also topped the volume of shares traded with 27.05% of the total exchanges. Real estate followed next with 25.37%, industries (19.60%), telecoms (11.36%), consumer goods and services (10.33%), transport (5.44%) and insurance (0.85%). QSE index reached a high of 10,313.74 points on January 3 and a low of 8,516.82 points on January 14. January 28 recorded the highest turnover of QR 396.84 Million From 43 companies listed on QSE, 37 ended the month lower, five made gains and one remained unchanged. (QNA)