The Doha-based QE 20 Index dived two percent to close at 8,605.17 points, as shares lost across the board. Market bellwether Industries Qatar added slightly (up 0.10%). The Gulf state's largest lender by assets Qatar National Bank or QNB (off 0.22%) number two Commercial Bank of Qatar, known as CBQ (down 1.50%) outperformed. Earlier in the day, Kuwait's Global Investment House said in earlier today it was still bullish on the Qatar banking sector. "Albeit slightly expensive on relative valuations, Qatar's burgeoning economy will trickle down quite favorably to its banking sector. Qatari banks are still expected to exhibit one of the strongest loans disbursements in the GCC especially as the major spending on FIFA World Cup inches closer." Global added that provisioning was not an issue in Doha: "Qatari banks so far have enjoyed among the best asset quality in the region. The non-performing loan (NPL) ratio of banks under our coverage amounted to 1.3% with provisioning coverage at 103.6%. Regarding individual shares, Global said: "Overall, our recommendations remain unchanged. We continue to maintain a Strong Buy recommendation on CBQ, Buy on QNB and Hold recommendations on Doha Bank and Shari'ah-banks Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB) and Masraf al-Rayan (MAR)." While stock indexes in Riyadh and Dubai have seen double-digit increases year-to-date, the QE 20 gauge declined 1.90% since January 1.