Qatar's selection as host of the 2022 World Cup sent the Qatari stock market index soaring on Sunday, the first trading day after FIFA selected the Gulf state as the host. The Qatar 2022 bid called for billions of dollars of investment in stadiums and other sports facilities, hotels, a transportation network and other infrastructure.

The Qatar Exchange index closed up 3.57 percent after opening up more than 7 percent. Real estate firm Barwa closed up 6.19 percent, while National Cement shot up 8.47 percent.

"There are huge sums of money that Qatar has pledged to spend within a set period of time. This helps investors to expect the direction of capital flows during the next 10 years," said Taha Abdel Ghani, general manager of Nama Economic Consulting.