One cannot head into his or her sportsbook of choice and bet on QAT’s fortunes, but this is what markets have to say about the possibility of Qatar losing its World Cup hosting privileges: “Last year, Credit Suisse warned that Qatar’s stock market could plunge by 20% if it was stripped of the 2022 tournament. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has estimated the potential losses could be around $16 billion,” according to Emerging Equity.
Down 3.1% this month, QAT is showing its vulnerability being stripped of its host nation status. That makes sense as the country is plowing $200 billion into World Cup-related infrastructure projects.
The bulk of the market value for Qatar’s equity market is held by banks and real estate firms, companies expected to benefit from the World Cup. QAT reflects as much with an almost 62% weight to the financial services and a 14% allocation to industrials. [Catalysts for the Qatar ETF]
iShares MSCI Qatar Capped ETF
