Friday, July 30, 2021Dhul-Hijjah 20, 1442 AH

BUSINESSGULF TIMES QSE extends gains

on foreign funds’ strong buy interests

BULLISH SENTIMENT: Page 4

US economy returns to pre-pandemic level; labour market healing

CONSUMER SPENDING UP: Page 4

Qatar among ‘Global Top 10 Countries by Islamic Assets’: Alpen CapitalBy Pratap JohnBusiness Editor

Islamic finance assets totalled $144bn in 2019; Qatar registered a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.7% in Islamic finance assets, the fourth highest in the world between 2014 and 2019

Qatar is among the ‘Global Top 10 Countries by Islamic Assets’; Alpen Capital said and noted the country’s

Islamic fi nance assets totalled $144bn in 2019.

Qatar’s Islamic fi nance assets to GDP stood at 40% in 2019; Alpen Capital said in its latest ‘Islamic Finance and Wealth Man-agement Report’.

During the fi ve-year period under review between 2014 and 2019, Qatar registered a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.7% in Islamic fi nance assets, the fourth highest in the world.

Region-wise, the GCC held the highest share in Islamic fi nance assets with 43.6% or $1,253bn, while other Mena countries and South East Asia (SE Asia) accounted for 26.3% ($755bn) and 23.8% ($685bn), re-spectively, Alpen Capital said.

Notably, SE Asia gained signifi cant mo-mentum in terms of growth in Islamic fi -nance over past few years. This growth was largely backed by the growing Muslim population in the region, along with a rising proportion of Muslims who seek to make investments that are in line with their reli-gious beliefs.

Consequently, the governments in the region, especially Malaysia and Indone-sia, played an active role in promoting Is-lamic fi nance instruments and rolled out a number of regulations to support the land-scape.

Islamic banking is the largest sector in the Islamic fi nance industry, contributing

to 69.3% of the industry’s assets in 2019. The sector is supported by an array of

commercial, wholesale, and other types of banks. Although the total share of Islamic banking has fallen from 73.1% in 2014 due to the rapid rise of Islamic Capital Market (ICM) instruments, especially sukuk and Islamic funds, it recorded a CAGR of 6.7% over the past fi ve years.

After weathering subdued growth since 2016, the sector rose 14.2% y-o-y in 2019 to $1,993bn in global assets.

This growth can be largely attributed to

improvements in assets across the GCC, which witnessed signifi cant mergers of Is-lamic banks to strengthen competitiveness, attract stable deposits and enhance effi -ciency. Shariah-compliant assets represent a signifi cant portion of total banking assets of the GCC, Alpen Capital noted.

Moreover, the GCC countries collective-ly accounted for 45.2% of the total Islamic banking assets globally.

Qatar accounted for $121.7bn Islamic banking assets in 2020. In Qatar, the 8.4% y-o-y growth in assets during 2020 was

buoyed by strong regulatory support and focus on technological developments that allowed easy and safe execution of services amid the pandemic.

In terms of consolidation in the GCC Is-lamic banking sector, Alpen Capital said, “As the sector looks to enhance its service off erings, consolidation is likely to remain a key theme in the GCC markets. This can be seen in the recent mergers of Barwa Bank with International Bank of Qatar, which made it the country’s third-largest Islamic banking franchise.”

Ministry of Commerce and Industry launches‘Manufacturers and Producers Directory Service’The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has launched the ‘Manufacturers and Producers Directory Service’ via the Ministry’s website.This step comes as part of the Ministry’s efforts to support and market national products in local markets. The initiative also aims to enhance consumers’ awareness of the importance of national products and motivates them to give priority to purchasing these products. Additionally, it seeks to support entrepreneurs and investors and provide them with the opportunity to easily reach consumers, as well as open the markets to traders and investors to introduce new products and expand their production areas.In this context, the Ministry called on all producers and manufacturers in Qatar to benefit from this free service by registering key information about their factories, including company name and description, the sector to which it belongs, and its contact information. Moreover, they are to attach the factory/product logo, through the Manufacturers and Producers Directory page available via the following link: https://bit.ly/3zALX9o

Qatar’s PPI soars 93.8% year-on-year in JuneBy Santhosh V PerumalBusiness Reporter

Higher average selling prices, particularly for crude and natural gas as well as certain manufactured products, led Qatar witness a stupendous 93.8% surge year-on-year in the earnings of the domestic producers in June 2021, according to the official estimates.Qatar’s PPI or producers price index — a measure of the average selling prices received by the domestic producers for their output — saw 8.5% expansion on monthly basis, said the figures released by the Planning and Statistics Authority (PSA).The PSA had released a new PPI series in late 2015. With a base of 2013, it draws on an updated sampling frame and new weights. The previous sampling frame dates from 2006, when the Qatari economy was much smaller than today and the range of products made domestically much narrower.The mining PPI, which carries the maximum weight of 72.7%, reported a robust 119.5% increase year-on-year in June 2021 as the selling price of crude petroleum and natural gas was seen soaring a high 119.9%; even as that of stone, sand and clay declined 5.8%.The mining PPI registered a 9.9% increase on a monthly basis in June this year on the back of a 9.7% expansion in the selling price of crude petroleum and natural gas but on 0.8% decline in that of stone, sand and clay.

The manufacturing sector, which has a weight of 26.8% in the PPI basket, witnessed a 58.4% growth year-on-year in June 2021 on a 88.5% surge in the price of basic chemicals, 62.6% in refined petroleum products, 33% in basic metals, 15.3% in paper and paper products, 11.4% in rubber and plastics products, 2% in juices, 1.8% in other chemical products and fibres, 0.5% in dairy products and 0.3% in beverages.Nevertheless, there was a 6.6% decline in the average price of cement and other non-metallic mineral products and 1.7% in grain mill and other products.The manufacturing sector PPI had seen a monthly 6.1% expansion in June 2021 as the average selling price of basic chemicals shot up 10.2%, refined petroleum products (6%), cement and other non-metallic mineral products (2.5%), dairy products (1.2%), basic metals (1.1%), juices (0.8%) and beverages (0.7%).However, there was a 0.4% decline in the average of price of grain mill and other products and 0.3% in rubber and plastics products.The utilities group, which has a mere 0.5% weightage in the PPI basket, saw its index soar 10.8% year-on-year because there was a 13.3% increase in the average selling price of water and 8.2% in electricity in June 2021.The index had seen a 1.6% jump month-on-month this June with the average selling price of water expanding 4.3%; whereas that of electricity was down 1%.

TotalEnergies and Equinor exit Venezuela venture amid exodus of foreign fi rmsBloombergCaracas

French oil company TotalEnergies SE and Norway’s Equinor ASA de-cided to quit a key venture in Ven-

ezuela, adding to an exodus of foreign firms in recent years as the country’s energy industry has withered.

The will transfer to state-owned Pe-troleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, stakes in the Petrocedeno oil produc-tion joint venture, TotalEnergies said in an e-mailed statement. TotalEnergies, which had a 30% stake, said the transac-tion will result in a $1.38bn capital loss. The French company and Equinor, which held 10%, had been major partners with PDVSA since the 1990s.

The Petrocedeno venture includes op-erations at an oil field in the Orinoco Belt and a heavy oil upgrader, a facility that blends heavy oil into a more commercial grade. After the move, PDVSA will own 100% of the venture. TotalEnergies said

the plan is in line with efforts to curb its overall carbon footprint. The transac-tion was first reported by Bloomberg.

TotalEnergies’ decision “is not related to the political situation in Venezuela or to the sanctions situation,” chief execu-tive officer Patrick Pouyanne said on a conference call. “Petrocedeno will in-deed require in the near future a signifi-cant amount of capex to restore the pro-duction with new wells and to rejuvenate the upgrader,” which would not be “con-sistent with our hydrocarbon strategy.”

TotalEnergies was among the top four international producers of crude in Ven-ezuela as recently as the mid-2000s, with its output ranking second among inter-national companies in 2007, according to PDVSA statistics. After late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez expropriated oil companies and changed contracts during the early 2000s, TotalEnergies was one of a handful of foreign firms to keep opera-tions in the country.

Even after US imposed sanctions on Venezuela’s oil industry, the Petrocede-

no venture continued to be one of the top-producing oilfields in the country, even as total production slumped to lev-els last seen in the 1940s.

After refinery output dropped in Ven-ezuela, causing fuel shortages, PDVSA this year decided to integrate some of the Petrocedeno plants into PDVSA re-fineries, aiming to help boost gasoline production. TotalEnergies and Equinor were not part of the decisions leading to this integration, people familiar with the matter said.

PDVSA said in a statement that the exit of both companies followed “an extremely successful negotiation.” The Petrocedeno upgrader, which is operat-ing again after a long period of inactiv-ity, will now be the focus of oil produc-tion in the Orinoco Belt, it said.

“Now Venezuela is absolute owner of one of the most powerful companies in Latin America,” PDVSA said.

Equinor did not respond to requests for comment. PDVSA declined a request for comment.

Qatar’s Islamic fi nance assets to GDP stood at 40% in 2019, Alpen Capital said in its latest ‘Islamic Finance and Wealth Management Report’

BUSINESSGulf Times Friday, July 30, 20212

Asian markets rally after Fed meetingAFPHong Kong

Asian markets rose on Thursday as the Federal Reserve acknowledged

the US recovery was well on track but it would not taper monetary policy just yet, while Hong Kong was lifted after Chi-na sought to reassure investors over its latest regulatory crack-down.

Traders were also cheered by progress in Washington on President Joe Biden’s trillion-dollar infrastructure bill, which he has said could “transform America” and add to the monu-mental amounts of stimulus al-ready pumped into the world’s top economy.

The developments overshad-owed concerns about the spread of the delta coronavirus variant that is sending infection rates spiking in several countries — including those with high vac-cination rates — and forcing some governments to impose lockdowns or other contain-ment measures.

After a closely watched meet-ing, the Fed said the pandemic recovery was progressing well but it was still too early to take away the ultra-loose poli-cies that have helped nurse the economy back to health.

The central bank has said it will maintain its massive bond-buying and record low inter-est rate scheme for as long as it takes to tame unemployment and keep infl ation running hot for an extended period.

It said the worst-hit sectors

“have shown improvement but have not fully recovered” and cautioned that “risks to the economic outlook remain”. Re-ferring to a time when the Fed can begin tapering, boss Jerome Powell told reporters: “We’re not there.

And we see ourselves as hav-ing some ground to cover to get there.” However, he said policy-makers had taken a “fi rst deep dive” on how to begin winding the bond-buying down but no decision had been made.

Observers said that with no meeting set for August, the bank was unlikely to move until the back end of the year.

“The lack of substantial pol-

icy change by the Federal Re-serve in its latest... meeting was largely expected,” said JP Mor-gan Asset Management strate-gist Tai Hui.

“What is noteworthy is that the Fed considers that the US economy ‘has made progress’ towards its goals — a strong hint it could start to taper its asset purchases as soon as December.”

And Bank of Singapore’s Mansoor Mohi-uddin agreed, adding: “This slow exit is thus likely to keep benefi ting risk as-sets during 2021.”

Meanwhile, traders are keep-ing tabs on developments in Washington after the Senate passed Biden’s infrastructure

package following weeks of ne-gotiations.

The bipartisan bill passed with 17 Republicans joining all 50 Democrats to formally begin a debate.

While the Fed news was met with a shrug on Wall Street, Asia enjoyed gains, having en-dured a volatile week.

Tokyo, Sydney, Seoul, Singa-pore, Mumbai, Wellington, Tai-pei, Bangkok Manila and Jakarta all rose.

But Hong Kong was the stan-dout, piling on more than 3%, extending Wednesday’s 1.5% rally.

However, it was still way off clawing back recent losses as

it had dropped more than 9% from Thursday’s close to Tues-day’s fi nish.

Shanghai climbed more than 1%, while London, Paris and Frankfurt all rallied in early trade.

The advances in Hong Kong came after Chinese authorities tried to soothe fears that their recent crackdown on the private education, tech and property sectors was not a drive against money-making companies.

China’s securities regulator held a hastily convened meet-ing with top investment bank heads Wednesday night, which left some feeling that the edu-cation measures — banning tui-tion fi rms from making profi ts or raising capital — were tar-geted and not intended to hurt companies in other industries, Bloomberg News reported.

State-run media has also looked to temper fears across trading fl oors, saying the rout had gone too far and that eco-nomic fundamentals remained strong.

Private tuition fi rms that have been strafed this week enjoyed healthy gains, with Koolearn Technology around 20% higher and New Oriental Education more than 10% higher.

Tech giant Tencent — which has been targeted over its vast exclusive music rights — surged around 10%.

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 closed up 0.7% to 27,782.42 points; Hong Kong — Hang Seng Index ended up 3.3% to 26,315.32 points and Shanghai Composite closed up 1.5% to 3,411.72 points yesterday.

A screen displays stock figures outside the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. The Hang Seng Index closed up 3.3% to 26,315.32 points yesterday.

ZAD HOLDING CO

WIDAM FOOD CO

VODAFONE QATAR

UNITED DEVELOPMENT CO

SALAM INTERNATIONAL INVESTME

QATAR & OMAN INVESTMENT CO

QATAR NAVIGATION

QATAR NATIONAL CEMENT CO

QATAR NATIONAL BANK

QLM LIFE & MEDICAL INSURANCE

QATAR ISLAMIC INSURANCE GROU

QATAR INDUSTRIAL MANUFACTUR

QATAR INTERNATIONAL ISLAMIC

QATARI INVESTORS GROUP

QATAR ISLAMIC BANK

QATAR GAS TRANSPORT(NAKILAT)

QATAR GENERAL INSURANCE & RE

QATAR GERMAN CO FOR MEDICAL

QATAR FUEL QSC

QATAR FIRST BANK

QATAR ELECTRICITY & WATER CO

QATAR EXCHANGE INDEX ETF

QATAR CINEMA & FILM DISTRIB

AL RAYAN QATAR ETF

QATAR INSURANCE CO

QATAR ALUMINUM MANUFACTURING

OOREDOO QPSC

ALIJARAH HOLDING COMPANY QPS

MAZAYA REAL ESTATE DEVELOPME

MESAIEED PETROCHEMICAL HOLDI

AL MEERA CONSUMER GOODS CO

MEDICARE GROUP

MANNAI CORPORATION QSC

MASRAF AL RAYAN

AL KHALIJ COMMERCIAL BANK

INDUSTRIES QATAR

INMA HOLDING COMPANY

INVESTMENT HOLDING GROUP

GULF WAREHOUSING COMPANY

GULF INTERNATIONAL SERVICES

AL FALEH EDUCATION HOLDING

EZDAN HOLDING GROUP

DOHA INSURANCE CO

DOHA BANK QPSC

DLALA HOLDING

COMMERCIAL BANK PSQC

BARWA REAL ESTATE CO

BALADNA

AL KHALEEJ TAKAFUL GROUP

AAMAL CO

AL AHLI BANK

15.46

4.05

1.58

1.46

0.88

0.90

7.49

5.04

18.20

5.05

8.25

2.84

9.21

2.33

17.22

3.04

2.07

2.72

17.99

1.77

16.50

10.51

3.70

2.42

2.50

1.47

7.09

1.06

1.04

1.91

20.08

8.61

3.69

4.32

2.19

13.35

5.01

1.05

5.16

1.42

1.56

1.53

1.91

2.95

1.49

5.50

3.06

1.46

4.68

0.95

3.86

0.39

-1.65

0.06

0.76

-1.57

0.33

-0.07

-0.26

0.61

0.36

0.24

1.32

-0.21

0.43

0.23

0.00

0.00

-0.91

1.18

0.91

-1.20

0.39

0.00

0.04

5.09

-0.61

-0.70

-1.40

-1.89

1.06

0.60

-1.46

-0.19

-1.71

0.00

1.29

0.20

-0.66

0.29

-0.70

-0.83

-1.23

0.00

5.06

-1.52

0.94

1.59

0.21

0.19

0.21

0.00

12,986

456,078

350,663

2,558,449

24,874,037

2,362,605

121,431

25,372

3,086,669

31,240

2,000

346,873

515,163

554,712

790,020

3,177,614

-

468,480

457,541

561,443

494,253

865

-

11,682

1,062,407

8,517,244

1,619,983

2,847,910

4,374,371

3,421,433

60,902

112,654

11,726

6,435,007

318,947

1,643,952

318,760

9,732,733

62,221

2,183,203

10,800

3,138,921

19,050

3,795,660

511,208

1,964,647

1,741,553

2,393,042

386,866

1,583,620

-

QSE MARKET WATCH

Company Name Lt Price % Chg Volume

BUSINESSFriday, July 30, 2021

GULF TIMES

30 -07 -2021

Money rolls in for Europe Inc as companies banish virus bluesReutersLondon

Carmaker Volkswagen, plane maker Airbus and energy major Royal Dutch Shell all posted bumper financial earnings on Thursday reflecting a generally buoyant mood among European companies emerging from the coronavirus pandemic.

European stocks hit record highs, taking their cue from the positive out-look and increased investor payouts off ered by many companies reporting on one of the busiest days on the financial calendar.

There were some clouds on the horizon — strong sales figures from Swiss foods group Nestle and brewer Anheuser Busch InBev were off set by concerns about the impact of higher costs on their businesses.

Volkswagen trimmed its estimate for an increase in car deliveries to custom-ers because of a shortage of computer chips, and Finnish telecoms equipment maker Nokia also warned that the same

issue was putting the brakes on its healthy growth. But business is clearly picking up from the lows of 2020 when eff orts to contain the coronavirus forced consumers to stay home and businesses to cut output.

Analysts at investment house Pictet said equities in developed markets were enjoying “a positive feedback loop in 2021, with stronger economic recovery increasing sales growth, improving margins and earnings set to rebound by 40% in 2021 in the US and Europe.”

Airbus, now the world’s largest planemaker, led the way by doubling its full-year profit forecast and raising the outlook for jet deliveries.

Shell boosted its dividend and launched a $2bn share buyback programme after a sharp rise in oil and gas prices drove second quarter profits to their highest in more than two years.

It joined peers TotalEnergies and Norway’s Equinor in announcing share buybacks as companies throw off more cash than they can reinvest.

Figures earlier in the week showed the luxury goods industry has rebound-ed strongly since the start of the year, fuelled by robust demand in Asia and the United States for European brands such as Louis Vuitton and Gucci.

The prospect of higher interest rates, combined with the risk of increased regulation, has dragged on investor sentiment in the tech-heavy US markets, giving indices across the Atlantic an edge.

“In Europe, having more industry than tech is good for index profits, which I expect to be revised upwards,” said Angelo Meda, head of equities at Banor SIM in Milan.

In Britain, Lloyds Banking Group swung to a first-half profit and announced an interim dividend, boosted by a house-buying frenzy and improved economic outlook.

The positive update from the bell-wether mortgage lender came after rival Barclays also posted upbeat earn-ings on Wednesday, and showed how banks’ profits are recovering as fears of pandemic-related bad loans ebb.

Apollo books $1.6bn gain selling hospital chain to itselfBloombergNew York

Apollo Global Management Inc booked a $1.6bn gain for its 2013 buyout fund

by selling its majority stake in rural hospital chain LifePoint Health to another Apollo fund.

The fi rm’s eighth fl agship fund completed the sale to its ninth last month for $2.6bn, af-ter investing a total of $975mn in Brentwood, Tennessee-based LifePoint, according to a quarterly report obtained by Bloomberg. Other investors put up some of the money.

LifePoint was among several private equity-backed healthcare fi rms that received government relief last year amid mounting costs from the pandemic, draw-ing criticism from lawmakers who said the cash should have come from investors, not taxpay-ers. The hospital chain was one of the biggest benefi ciaries, with a $1.64bn lifeline that included almost $650mn in grants and $991mn in loans.

“Private equity’s growing reach into our healthcare system is con-cerning precisely because private equity’s mission to reap enor-mous profi ts often stands in di-rect confl ict with the Hippocratic Oath,” US Representative Bill Pascrell, a New Jersey Democrat, said in an e-mailed statement. “We need greater transparency and more cutting oversight of these private-equity fi rms.”

LifePoint needed taxpayer support to stay open and pro-tect jobs, said spokeswoman Michelle Augusty, noting that it repaid the government loans ahead of schedule.

“All grant aid we received has been applied to LifePoint’s communities and only partially off set the $1.1bn in extraordi-nary expenses and lost revenue that we incurred” because of the pandemic, she said.

Apollo wasn’t the only private-equity fi rm to orchestrate an un-

common exit from a for-profi t hospital chain this year. Cerberus Capital Management and Leon-ard Green & Partners sold their remaining interests to insiders at the healthcare companies they had backed, rather than selling to an industry competitor or pursu-ing an initial public off ering.

Cerberus made roughly $800mn on its investment in Boston-based Steward Health Care, after paying $246mn in 2010 for what started as a chain of struggling Catholic hospitals.

As for Apollo, the buyer came from within. The fi rm turned to its $24.7bn fl agship buyout fund that fi nished raising money in 2017. In April, the fund agreed to put up $2bn alongside $600mn from other investors to buy Life-Point from the 2013 pool.

Such deals are often frowned upon by private-equity inves-tors. The worry is that one fund might overpay or underpay, which could put one group of in-vestors at a disadvantage. In this case, the advisory boards of the two funds approved the move.

“We worked with fund in-vestors, independent advisers and multiple new co-investors to reach a fair and attractive transaction for both funds,” said Apollo spokeswoman Joanna Rose. “This was a unique trans-action for Apollo and we are proud to continue supporting the company and its mission.”

The fi rm built LifePoint through the acquisition of three regional hospital chains in 2015, 2016 and 2018, and the com-pany now operates 87 hospitals in small towns across the US. Apollo has said it can oper-ate hospitals more effi ciently by merging them. Technology and infrastructure upgrades are among a number of improve-ments LifePoint has made on Apollo’s watch, according to the private-equity giant, which is marketing the healthcare fi rm as a socially responsible invest-ment in its pitch to raise an inau-gural impact fund.

US economy returns to pre-pandemic level;labour market healingReutersWashington

The US economy grew sol-idly in the second quarter, pulling the level of gross

domestic product above its pre-pandemic peak, as massive gov-ernment aid and vaccinations against Covid-19 fuelled spend-ing on goods and travel-related services.

The pace of GDP growth re-ported by the Commerce De-partment on Thursday was, however, slower than econo-mists had expected.

That was because business-es had to again draw down on meagre inventories to meet the robust demand.

Supply constraints, which have resulted in shortages of motor vehicles and some house-hold appliances, are making it harder for business to replenish stocks.

“The US economy is off and running,” said Scott Hoyt, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania.”Real GDP has fully recovered what it lost in the downturn.”

Gross domestic product in-creased at a 6.5% annualised rate last quarter, the govern-ment said in its advance esti-mate of second-quarter GDP.

The economy grew at a 6.3% rate in the fi rst quarter, revised down from the previously re-ported 6.4% pace.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast GDP rising at an 8.5% rate last quarter.

Excluding inventories, trade and government spending, the

economy grew at a 9.9% pace.With the second-quarter es-

timate, the government pub-lished revisions to GDP Data, which showed the economy contracting 3.4% in 2020, in-stead of 3.5% as previously es-timated.

That was still the biggest drop in GDP since 1946.

The revisions to growth in other years and quarters were minor.

From 2015 to 2020, GDP in-creased at an average annual rate of 1.1%, unrevised from previ-ously published estimates.

The National Bureau of Eco-nomic Research, the arbiter of

US recessions, declared last week that the pandemic Down-turn, which started in February 2020, ended in April 2020.

Even with the second quarter marking the peak in growth this cycle, the economic expansion is expected to remain solid for the remainder of this year.

A resurgence in Covid-19 infections, driven by the delta variant of the coronavirus, how-ever, poses a risk to the outlook.

Higher infl ation, if sustained, as well as ongoing supply chain disruptions could also slow the economy.

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday kept its overnight

benchmark interest rate near zero and left its bond-buying programme unchanged.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell told reporters that the pandemic’s economic eff ects continued to diminish, but risks to the out-look remain.

US stocks opened higher.The dollar fell against a bas-

ket of currencies.US Treasury prices were low-

er. Economists expect growth of around 7% this year, which would be the strongest per-formance since 1984.

The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday boosted its growth forecasts for the United

States to 7.0% in 2021 and 4.9% in 2022, up 0.6 and 1.4 percent-age points respectively, from the forecasts in April.

President Joe Biden’s ad-ministration provided $1.9tn in pandemic relief in March, send-ing one-time $1,400 checks to qualifi ed households and ex-tending a $300 unemployment subsidy through early Septem-ber.

That brought the amount of government aid to nearly $6tn since the pandemic started in the United States in March 2020.

Nearly half of the population has been vaccinated against Covid-19, allowing Americans to travel, frequent restaurants, attend sporting events and en-gage in other services-related activities that were curbed early in the pandemic.

Consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the US economy, grew at an 11.8% rate in the second quarter, boosted by demand for services.

While spending on goods re-mained strong, the pace likely slowed from earlier in the pan-demic, when Americans were cooped up at home.

The economy also received a further boost from business In-vestment, especially on equip-ment, as companies ramped up production.

Though the fi scal boost is fading and Covid-19 cases are rising in states with lower vacci-nation rates, consumer spend-ing will likely continue to grow.

Households accumulated at least $2tn in excess savings dur-ing the pandemic.

QSE extends gains on foreign institutions’ strong buy interestsBy Santhosh V PerumalBusiness Reporter

Foreign institutions’ strong buying interests yesterday extended the bullish run in the Qatar Stock Exchange for the second straight session and its key barometer settled above 10,750 levels.The insurance, real estate and industrials counters witnessed higher than average demand as the 20-stock Qatar Index settled 0.42% higher at 10,753.28 points, recovering from an intraday low of 10,660 points.More than 53% of the traded constituents extended gains in the market, which is up 3.01% year-to-date.Five of the sectors experienced buying interests in the bourse, whose capitalisation saw more than QR2bn or 0.37% increase to QR621.6bn, mainly owing to small and microcap segments.The Islamic index was seen treading a flat path vis-à-vis gains in the other indices in the market, which saw the banking, industrials and consumer goods and services sectors together

constitute more than 81% of the total trading volume. The overall trade turnover and volumes were on the increase in the bourse, where local retail investors turned bearish.The domestic funds were seen increasingly into net profit booking in the market, which saw a total of 12,547 exchange traded funds (Masraf Al Rayan sponsored QATR and Doha Bank sponsored QETF) valued at QR37,479 change hands across six deals; while in the debt market, there was no trading of sovereign bonds and treasury bills.The Total Return Index gained 0.42% to 21,286.77 points and All Share Index by 0.49% to 3,416.93 points, while Al Rayan Islamic Index (Price) was rather unchanged.The insurance index soared 3.15%, real estate (0.64%), industrials (0.6%), consumer goods and services (0.56%) and banks and financial services (0.35%); while telecom declined 0.48%. The transport index was flat.Major gainers included Qatar Insurance, Doha Bank, Barwa, Qatar Industrial Manufacturing, Industries Qatar,

Commercial Bank, QNB, Woqod and Mesaieed Petrochemical Holding.Nevertheless, Mazaya Qatar, Masraf Al Rayan, Widam Food, Dlala, Salam International Investment, Alijarah

Holding, Medicare Group, Qatar Electricity and Water and Ezdan were among the losers.Foreign funds turned net buyers to the tune of QR56.94mn compared with net

sellers of QR5.01mn on July 28.However, Qatari individuals’ net selling increased significantly to QR28.55mn against QR1.01mn on Wednesday.Domestic funds were net sellers to the extent of QR20.41mn compared with net buyers of QR4.74mn the previous day.The Arab individuals’ net profit booking strengthened noticeably to QR4.77mn against QR4.19mn on July 28.Foreign individuals’ net selling shot up markedly to QR3.63mn compared to QR2.01mn on Wednesday.The Gulf individuals’ net profit booking grew perceptibly to QR1.03mn against QR0.03mn the previous day.The Arab institutions turned net sellers to the tune of QR0.09mn compared with no major net exposure on July 28.The Gulf institutions’ net buying weakened considerably to QR1.53mn against QR7.15mn on Wednesday.Total trade volume rose 14% to 99.51mn shares, value by 28% to QR284.48mn and transactions by 7% to 7,436.The consumer goods and services sector’s trade volume soared 44% to

28.85mn equities, value by 40% to QR39.05mn and deals by 60% to 1,207.The market witnessed 25% surge in the industrials sector’s trade volume to 28.5mn stocks, 54% in value to QR66.29mn and 39% in transactions to 1,768.The transport sector’s trade volume shot up 25% to 3.36mn shares, while value fell 5% to QR10.85mn despite 26% higher deals at 563.However, there was 14% plunge in the real estate sector’s trade volume to 11.81mn equities, 17% in value to QR18.41mn and 5% in transactions to 706.The telecom sector’s trade volume shrank 8% to 1.97mn stocks, whereas value expanded 60% to QR11.99mn and deals by 30% to 614.The banks and financial services sector saw 5% contraction in trade volume to 23.51mn shares but on 29% jump in value to QR133.22mn despite 21% lower transactions at 2,477.The insurance’s trade volume was down 3% to 1.5mn equities, value by 20% to QR4.66mn and deals by 21% to 101.

The insurance, real estate and industrials counters witnessed higher than average demand as the 20-stock Qatar Index settled 0.42% higher at 10,753.28 points yesterday, recovering from an intraday low of 10,660 points

People walk on a busy 5th Avenue in New York City. The US economy grew solidly in the second quarter, pulling the level of gross domestic product above its pre-pandemic peak, as massive government aid and vaccinations against Covid-19 fuelled spending on goods and travel-related services.