Doha, February 02 (QNA) – Financial advisor Ramzi Qasimia said the Qatar Central Bank’s (QCB) decision to continue with the current interest rates and avoid the approach approved by the US Federal Reserve is a precedent of its kind since 2008.
He pointed out that the QCB used other tools to draw monetary policy such as the issuance of treasury bills of various maturities to maintain the continuity of economic growth.
Talking to Qatar News Agency (QNA), he said that the Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) did not react today to the QCB’s decision, especially in light of the continued decline in bank shares, which represent about 55% of the QSE index, pointing to a state of anticipation among investors for the industrial sector companies and their distributions.
He pointed out that during last January, the stock index recorded a growth of about 2.35%, supported by the shares of the industrial sector, whose profits are expected to record a remarkable growth, which is expected to be reflected in the distributions of those companies, as the industry index in January achieved gains of more than 7%, while the real estate index declined by 3%.
It is expected that some companies in the sector will benefit from the decision to extend the validity of the Haya card, with the aim of stimulating tourism in the country.
Meanwhile, Qasimia pointed to the decline witnessed by the QSE due to direct pressure from bank stocks, as the financial sector index fell in the last 5 sessions by about 5.42%, after the announcement of Masraf Al Rayan’s annual results, which showed a decline in its profits by about 21.7%. However, the surprise was the large and continuous rise in the volume of non-performing loans at Masraf Al Rayan to reach QR 7.3 billion, meaning that the volume of its non-performing loans during the year 2022 alone amounted to QR 5 billion. Moreover, investors received the news of Doha Bank postponing its results for the year 2022 with a kind of reservation and discomfort, as a result of expectations indicating an increase in non-performing loans.
The QSE index fell by 3.710% in this week of February to lose 412.120 points to reach 10,698 points.
The weekly report of the QSE revealed a decrease in the market value at the end of this week’s trading to reach QR 606.802 billion, compared to its level last week, which amounted to QR 630.341 billion, while the value of stock trading was about QR 2.889 billion through the sale of 744.899 million shares, as a result of the implementation of 86996 deals across all sectors. (QNA)
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