Qatar Exchange Index Gains 178.75 Points in February

Doha, March 01 (QNA) - Qatar Exchange index gained 178.75 points (2.09%) in February when it closed trading on the last day at 8,746.98 points compared to January. The trading value in February 2012 was QR 6,306,458,759.53, an increase by 24% compared to the figure of QR 5,085,707,362.70 registered in January. The market capitalization at the end of February from 20 trading days was QR 454,807,157,202.07, an increase by 2.75%, compared to QR 442,648,976,531.49 at the end of January from 22 days of trading activity. The maximum number of transactions was registered on February 23 at 4,609 amounting to QR 435,615,821.70 from the traded volume of 7,954,859 shares. The least number of transactions was registered on February 8 at 2,319 amounting to QR 195,012,885.39 from the traded volume of 5,162,770 shares. The highest traded value of QR 529,676,387.19 and a traded volume of 17,067,712 was registered on February 13. The Qatari bourse was closed on February 14 as the country celebrated its first National Sports Day. QE index peaked on February 26 at 8,776.82 points and noted a low of 8,544.18 on February 16. From the 42 listed companies, 24 ended the month of February 2012 higher while 16 fell and two remained unchanged. Masraf Al Rayan topped the companies in terms of value of traded shares at 19.9% (QR 1,255,263,912.45) of the total traded value of QR 6,306,458,759.53). Its closing share price for the month of February was QR 26.70 compared to QR 25.60 in January. Industries Qatar's value of traded shares was QR 939,209,361.40 or 14.89% of the total value. Its share price gained QR 10.40 when it closed February at QR 141.00 compared to January's closing price of QR 130.60. The trading volume last month was 152,317,011 shares, an increase by 7.44% compared to 141,775,104 shares in January. There was a drop in the number of transactions by 4.22% as February recorded 69,463 transactions compared to 72,520 transactions noted in January. The banking and financial sector led the traded value last month with 50.64% (QR 3,193,458,310.65) of the total value of QR 6,306,458,759.53. Services accounted for 26.79%. The industrial sector accounted for 20.35% and insurance sector accounted for 2.23%. The banking and financial sector led the traded volume last month with 48.25% (73,485,735) of the total traded volume of 152,317,011. Services sector accounted for 36.71% (55,910,151). The industrial sector accounted for 13.56% (20,651,305) and the insurance sector accounted for 1.49% (2,269,820). (QNA)