Qatar is a small but extremely rich country. And its domestic economy is developing at breakneck speed, with very high growth rates. For those who want to invest in Qatar, we analyze its three most important stock market indices.
Content
Introduction
With a population of about 3 million people, Qatar can still be considered a small country. But that comes after decades of unprecedented demographic growth.
To put things in perspective, at the end of the 1980s, the population of Qatar barely exceeded 200,000 inhabitants. This dramatic growth is the result of a constant inflow of people from other countries who decide to move to Qatar.
As is to be expected, this demographic trend has come hand in hand with unprecedented economic growth in the country. Qatar has used its financial resources from exporting natural gas and oil, with the goal of building and developing a domestic economy that is capable of generating wealth in other ways, and eventually being sustainable without the need of hydrocarbon sales.
The capital of Qatar is located in Doha, one of the most prosperous cities on the planet. And where the most important stock market in the country is located, the Qatar Stock Exchange, often known as QSE.
The currency of Qatar is the Qatari riyal, whose code in the financial markets is QAR. The value of the riyal is pegged to the value of the US dollar, at an exchange rate of 3.64 riyals to the dollar. This exchange rate was introduced in 2001. For all practical purposes, investing in riyals is therefore equivalent to investing in dollars.
Qatar hosted the 2022 Football World Cup. And it has investments all over the world, which help it exert its influence abroad.
For those who want to consider investing in Qatar’s economy, next we analyze its three most important stock market indices.
QE General
The QE General, often known simply as QE, is the main stock market index of the Qatar Stock Exchange. It was introduced in 2012. QE is simply the abbreviation for Qatar Exchange.
This index is composed of the 20 largest companies listed on the QSE, as long as they meet certain liquidity and free float criteria.
Within the index, stocks are weighted according to two different criteria, each with an importance of 50%. On the one hand, the market capitalization adjusted for free float is taken into account. And, on the other hand, the volume of stock transactions is also considered.
The QE General index is updated every 6 months. And it caps the weight that any individual stock can have within it at 15%.
If you want to read more information about the QE General, you can visit the Qatar Stock Exchange website.
FTSE Nasdaq Dubai Qatar 10
Some Qatari companies are also listed abroad. One of the most popular stock exchanges in the Middle East is Nasdaq Dubai, located in the United Arab Emirates.
Thus, the British company FTSE Russell calculates the FTSE Nasdaq Dubai Qatar 10 stock market index. It is composed of the 10 largest Qatari companies traded on Nasdaq Dubai.
Because 10 is a relatively small number of stocks for a relatively small country like Qatar, this index can be a good option for passive investment funds.
If you want to read more information about the FTSE Nasdaq Dubai Qatar 10, you can visit the FTSE Russell website, where you can find all the details about the index´s methodology.
MSCI Qatar
Finally, the US company MSCI calculates the MSCI Qatar index. This index is made up of all Qatari stocks that are part of the global MSCI Emerging Markets index.
Like the rest of the Gulf countries, Qatar continues to be classified as an emerging country despite being one of the richest places on the planet. This is because its financial markets are less developed. But that is something that could change in the future.
Within the MSCI Qatar, we can find about 10-12 companies, depending on how many of them meet all criteria necessary to be included. It is important to note that the financial sector dominates the index overwhelmingly. Some of its largest companies are Qatar National Bank and Qatar Islamic Bank.
Additional information about the MSCI Qatar can be found on the MSCI website.
I hope you found this article about Qatar stock market indices helpful. If you want to learn about the stock market indexes in Saudi Arabia, another country in the Middle East, you can check out this post:
Top Stock Market Indices in Saudi Arabia
And if you want to subscribe to my newsletter, you can do so here:
Clear Finances
Comments are closed.