Market capitalisation at the Qatar Stock Exchange closed at QR547.5bn in the week that ended Thursday, QNB Financial Services (QNBFS) has said in a report.

The QSE index decreased by 357.69 points, or 3.51%, during the week, QNBFS said.

Of the 47 listed companies, nine companies ended the week higher, while 36 fell and two remained unchanged.

Doha Insurance Group (DOHI) was the best performing stock for the week, with a gain of 3.6%. On the other hand, United Development Company (UDCD) was the worst performing stock with a decline of 8.9%.

Industries Qatar (IQCD), Qatar Islamic Bank (QIBK) and Woqod (QFLS) were the primary contributors to the weekly index decline.

IQCD was the biggest contributor to the index’s weekly decrease, deleting 82.4 points from the index.

QIBK was the second biggest contributor to the mentioned loss, removing 40.0 points from the index. Moreover, QFLS shed 36.8 points from the index.

Trading value during the week decreased by 21.2% to reach QR891.7mn compared with QR1.13bn in the previous week, QNBFS said.

The banks and financial services sector led the trading value during the week, accounting for 57.7% of the total trading value.

The real estate sector was the second biggest contributor to the overall trading value, accounting for 14.0% of the total trading value.

QNB Group (QNBK) was the top value traded stock during the week with total traded value of QR231.8mn.

Trading volume decreased by 15.6% to reach 315.4mn shares compared with 373.7mn shares in the previous week, QNBFS said.

The number of transactions fell by 25% to reach 22,087 versus 29,458 in the previous week.

The real estate sector led the trading volume, accounting for 33.6%, followed by the banks and financial services sector, comprising 30% of the overall trading volume.

United Development Company (UDCD) was the top volume traded stock during the week with total traded volume of 61.4mn shares.

Foreign institutions ended the week with net buying of QR6.1mn compared with net buying of QR15.9mn in the previous week.

Qatari institutions remained ‘negative’ with net selling of QR27.6mn compared with net selling of QR33.4mn in the week before.

Foreign retail investors remained ‘positive’ with net buying of QR9.4mn compared with net buying of QR4.4mn in the previous week.

Qatari retail investors remained ‘bullish’ with net buying of QR12.2mn compared with net buying of QR13mn the week before.

Foreign institutions have bought (on a net basis) about $196mn worth of Qatari equities in so far in 2020, QNBFS report said.