Although there was a visible increase in the number of investors crowding the floor of the Doha Securities Market (DSM) on April 3, the first day of partially liberalised trading did not go with the bang that some Qataris had expected. Trading volumes were described as moderate and the benchmark DSM index rose 1.36% on the day, but that was hardly the rush of foreign interest hoped for by local investors, who had pushed the index up more than 70% since the beginning of the year after 65% gains in 2004.
Delivering on a February 6 amendment to Law 13/2000 governing foreign investment, the government opened all listed stocks (bar those of Ahli Bank) to foreign investors on April 3 – the idea being to spur inward investment.
