Doha stock exchange
The stock market in Doha is well developed and stocks of listed companies are freely traded. It is to be noted here that the Doha Securities Market is the main stock market of Qatar. If the history to this market is tracked, it can be said that the stock market would found in the year 1997. It is also called as DSM in short and is located in the city of Doha, the capital city. Let us now discuss the various features of Doha Stock Exchange.
CHARACTERISTICS OF DOHA STOCK EXCHANGE
The Doha Stock Exchange is the place where the shares of all the listed companies are traded. The principal stock index of DSM or the Doha Securities Market is the DSM-20. As the name suggests too, this stock index is composed of 20 major listings pertaining to 20 main companies. The equities of these companies are used to get the status of the stock market and the net result is used for the upward trend or the downward trend. It is to be properly understood that the DSM 20 is the weighted index and thus, both the prices of the stocks pertaining to the 20 major listings as well as the market capitalization is used to calculate the index. The 20 major listings that forms the basis of the index does not remain same all the time and change at regular basis. For example, the index sample for the month of April 2007 is different from the index sample from the month of May 2007. The index sample of Apr 2007 consisted of Commercial Bank, Ahli Bank, Qatar Islamic Bank, Qatar International Islamic Bank, Doha Bank, Qatar National Bank, Industries Qatar, Qatar Islamic Insurance, Doha Insurance, Qatar Insurance, Qatar Industrial Manufacturing, Qatar National Cement, Medical Care Group, Qatar Flour Mills, Qatar Navigation, Qatar Real Estate Investment, Qatar Shipping, Qatar Fuel, Qatar Electricity and Water and Qatar Telecom, also called as Q-Tel. Thus, it can be seen that the 20 listings pertain to the different sector of economy so that the stock index is properly represented. This also prevents dominance of one sector on the stock index. Let us now discuss the other aspects related to the Doha Stock Exchange.
RELATED ASPECTS OF DOHA STOCK EXCHANGE
There are many other aspects of Doha Stock Exchange that need to be understood. First of all, the Doha Stock Exchange of DSE was established as per the law no. 4/1995. The DSE governs all the transactions that are made pertaining to bonds, shares of Qatari shareholding companies, securities, government companies, negotiable instruments, quasi government companies, and all other securities that are authorized for trading. As far as the members of DSE are concerned all the licensed commercial banks and QCB are the members of DSE. There are also licensing rules that are applicable to brokers and if these rules are violated, the broker may face the suspension of license. There are also many trading activities that are limited to brokers. Though the Doha Stock Exchange was formed in the year 1995, the formal operations in the stock exchange began in the year 1997. It is to be noted here that an international consultant was also appointed in drawing up the regulatory framework related to DSE. This international consultant was appointed in the year 1996. The consultant was also supposed to make recommendations to the steering committee of DSM. The main issues that needed to be resolved were the use of electronic trading or the floor based trading. Only Qatari nationals were allowed to trade in the securities at the Doha Stock Exchange and later on, GCC nationals and foreigners were also allowed. It is to be noted here that DSE is an autonomous body by is indirectly regulated by the Finance, Economy and Trade Ministry of Qatar. In the year 2005 alone, the Doha Stock Exchange grew by about 12%.
If the present scenario is seen, the Doha Stock Exchange is trading between the 7000-7500 levels. The volume is also good and it is about 6300000 at present. The total YTD change is about 3%. The 52-week high for DSE is 8276.65 whereas the 52-week low is about 5825.80. As far as the top companies that are traded on DSE is concerned, these are QTEL, QNBK, AKHI, QISI, GWCS, QATI, UDCD, GCCD, QFMD AND QGRI.
The DSE is expected to do better, as the Real GDP has grown by about 7% over the past 5 years, even the per capita income has also increased. The growth has been registered due to better performance of finance, tourism and the construction sector. The key valuations of the stock exchange are also good. The DSM index has registered a very good YTD return of about 49.55%, which is of course in line with the GCC performances. It is also to be noted here that the boost in the market capitalization is received after the listing of 4 major Initial Public Offers after January 2003.
One of the aspects that has shown that Doha Stock Exchange has good strength is that the exchange was not at all affected by the Asian Crisis in the year 1998. After its inception in the year 1997, the Doha Stock Market grew strong and the prices of all the companies that were listed at the exchange showed upward trend. There was also recession in the petroleum prices, but the stock exchange was not at affected. Even the capital value of the familiar companies reached to a level of about $4 billion, in the first year of inception. At the time of inauguration of stock market, the valuation stood at about $1.64 billion. This was a quite positive sign showed by the Doha Stock Exchange and the reason behind this was seen as the rising prices and the increasing demands of shares of all the registered companies, as these posted good profits in the particular year. Also, the lowering of petroleum prices did not affect the performance of these companies. So, Doha Stock Market grew strong and is showing the same strength in the present times.
SO, SHARES CAN BE EASILY TRADED AT DOHA STOCK EXCHANGEAfter going through the above discussion, it can be said that securities market in Doha is well developed and it showed its strength in the year 1998. The DSM or Doha Securities Market is the principal place of trading of stocks and a person can easily trade in stocks by way of stock brokers that are licensed to provide their services.
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