Qatari bail-outs boost local bourse

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Qatar’s most recent intervention in its banking sector has been met by hearty applause from investors, who have sent the Doha Securities Market into positive territory after heavy losses earlier this year.

Last month, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem al-Thani, Qatar’s prime minister, offered to buy up to $4.1bn of commercial banks’ property investments, to “support the real estate sector...and allow banks to continue to play their vital role” in the country’s development.

The intervention followed one in March, when the government bought nearly the entire domestic equity portfolio of the banking sector. And late last year the country’s sovereign wealth fund spent $5.3bn on equity stakes in local banks.