S&P Moves Qatar to Its Emerging Market Index

Doha, September 18 (QNA) - Standard & Poor's (S&P) Dow Jones announced Thursday that the decision issued in October of last year to upgrade the classification of the Qatari market from frontier to emerging market status will be implemented with effect from next Monday September 22, 2014. S&P's decision to re-classify Qatar as an emerging market was announced last October following a consultation with clients and comes after similar moves by rival index provider MSCI. S&P Dow Jones said in its statement that the weight of the Qatari market in the international BMI index for emerging markets would be 0.9%. In a statement issued today Qatar Exchange (QE), CEO of QE Rashid bin Ali Al-Mansoori described this announcement as a positive step that would improve the visibility and performance of the stock market in the State of Qatar. On this occasion, Al-Mansoori expressed his confidence in the remarkable developments of Qatar Stock Exchange, the excellent performance of Qatari listed companies, and the positive outlook for the global investment institutions regarding the Qatari market as evidenced by this announcement. Al-Mansoori hopes that this development will open the door to additional investments by global portfolios in the shares of Qatari companies, which would in turn benefit from these investments. This will also have a positive impact across the various economic sectors of the country and will bolster the reputation of the Qatari market as a safe and stable investment environment. "This upgrade has been achieved as a result of arduous and ongoing efforts to develop the financial market infrastructure, especially with regard to the development of the regulatory and legal framework in the State of Qatar under the supervision of the Financial Markets Development Commission and in line with the Qatar National Vision 2030", Al-Mansoori concluded. (QNA)