The Qatar Stock Exchange (QSE) started its operations in 1997 as the Doha Securities Market and has become the main stock exchange of Qatar and one of the prominent exchanges of the Arab States of the Gulf. It is regulated by the Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA) and is headquartered in Doha, the country's capital and most populous city as well as one of the developing financial centers in the Middle East. QSE has a strategic partnership with NYSE Euronext and the electronic trading is conducted through their Universal Trading Platform (UTP), a widely used trading system. The exchange lists 43 companies with a market cap of QAR 336 billion. The exchange also houses bonds and ETFs.
Among the listings are well-known and actively traded companies such as the Qatar National Bank, the Qatar Gas Transport Company, Industries Qatar, Commercial Bank and Barwa. QSE manages the QE index, which consists of the top 20 companies, sorted by free float market capitalization and daily average traded value. The constituents are screened for eligibility and reviewed semi-annually. This index is widely recognized as the benchmark index for the Qatari stock market. Other key indices are the QE All Share Index as well as market sector indices.
