Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic has affected stock prices in many sectors of financial markets and this can be seen in many countries all over the world. The main enquiries in this study included whether the negative effect of COVID-19 pandemic was converted into a positive reaction in the financial markets after the restriction related to the pandemic were gradually relaxed and which sectors were more affected by this relaxation. These inquiries were investigated through examining the case of the state of Qatar because it has an attractive investment environment as the richest country in the Arab world. Quantitative method was followed to answer the enquiries of this study by testing the performance of the stock indices in the sectors of Qatari market for the period from 25 April, 2021 to 18 November, 2021. The performance of the index of each sector was measured using risk-adjusted performance measures. Data of the study were analyzed using Friedman test. Study results revealed that the gradual lifting of the restrictions has positively affected the performance of the sectors in the stock market and that the magnitude and direction of the effect was different on each sector.

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