The Doha-based QE-Index added 0.89% on Thursday, closing at 8,668.64. Financial shares were the drivers behind the surge. The country's largest lender Qatar National Bank, known as QNB, edged 2.59% higher to reach QR142.80. Qatar Navigation declined 2.41%, closing at QR85. Earlier in the day, Qatar Navigation announced that its ordinary general assembly approved the company's audited financial results for the year ended 31 December 2010, along with the proposal by the Board of Directors to distribute a cash dividend of 40% of the share par value (QR4 per share) or the equivalent of QR458m compared to QR288m for 2009, an increase of 60%.