News Brief-Re: Merrill Lynch

Qatar National Bank, the Gulf country’s biggest bank, was given a ‘buy’ recommendation in new coverage at Merrill Lynch. “We think the bank is least vulnerable versus peers to deposit competition and raising wholesale credit costs,” London-based analysts including Karthik Sankaran wrote in a report to clients. The brokerage set its 12-month price estimate on the stock at QR294. Merrill Lynch also initiated coverage of Commercialbank with a ‘neutral’ recommendation, setting its price projection at QR189.