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Qatar’s Gulf International Services (GIS) lifted the Doha bourse to a record high on Tuesday after its unit signed contracts worth $1.4 billion to supply drilling rig services to state energy giant Qatar Petroleum, according to news agency Reuters.
The stock jumped 4.7 percent to an all-time closing high of 128.30 riyals and was the main support for Qatar’s benchmark , which added 0.6 percent and closed above 14,000 points for the first time.
Gulf Drilling International, a subsidiary of GIS, will provide two new offshore rigs and two new land rigs, and extend four other contracts, Qatar Petroleum said in a statement after trading closed on Monday.
The stock had already doubled in price this year, making it one of the best performers in Qatar, and GIS said in April it expected its net profit to jump at least 33 percent to above 900 million riyals this year. Qatar Petroleum said the rig contracts had been previously announced, but local retail investors were still energised by the announcement.
One risk factor for Qatar is FIFA’s investigation into its earlier decision to award the 2022 soccer World Cup to Qatar following allegations of graft, which Doha denies. Fund managers think Qatar remains very unlikely to lose the hosting rights, but the issue could cause concern in the market.
FIFA ethics committee investigator Michael Garcia has completed his probe into the bidding process and handed in a 350-page report which the ethics committee’s adjudicatory chamber, headed by German judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, will now use to decide whether any wrongdoing was committed, soccer’s governing body said last Friday. FIFA said it could not comment on when Eckert might reach his decision.
Separately, FIFA said on Monday it was considering staging the Cup in January-February or November-December as alternatives to June-July 2022, because of widespread concern over the health of the players and supporters if the games are played in the searing summer heat.
