GCC Equities Review: Foreign buyers underpin Qatar market's continued growth | ZAWYA MENA Edition

GCC Equities Review: Foreign buyers underpin Qatar market's continued growth | ZAWYA MENA Edition:

Qatar appears to be coping well with the economic fallout from blockade imposed on it just over a year ago by a quartet of neighbouring countries including Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.  The quartet began the blockade in June last year accusing Qatar of sponsoring terrorism, a claim the state has denied.

On July 15, ratings agency Moody’s lifted its outlook on Qatar’s sovereign outlook to ‘stable’ from ‘negative’, citing the state’s ability to withstand the impact from the blockade “for an extended period of time without a material deterioration of the sovereign's credit profile”.

The country’s stockmarket has proved equally resilient. The Qatar Exchange All Share Index gained in value by 6.9 percent in the first half of the year, making it the region’s second-best performing market behind Saudi Arabia.