MSM index ends higher

The top gainer was Gulf Investment Services, up by 9.43 per cent, while National Finance was the top loser, with a loss of 5.30 per cent.

MUSCAT: Gain in financial stocks lifted the MSM30 Index to 5,528.69 points, up by 0.28 per cent. The MSM Sharia Index closed at 803.38 points, up by 0.48 per cent. Oman Fisheries was the most active regarding volume as well as turnover. The top gainer was Gulf Investment Services, up by 9.43 per cent, while National Finance was the top loser, with a loss of 5.30 per cent.

As many as 859 trades were executed on Monday, generating a turnover of OMR2.69 million with 12.23 million shares changing hands. Out of 41 traded securities, 17 advanced, 11 declined, and 13 remained unchanged. Foreign investors stayed net buyers of OMR285,000 followed by Omani investors for OMR152,000 while GCC and Arab investors were net sellers of OMR437,000 worth of shares.

Financial Index advanced 0.70 per cent to end at 8,112.21 points. Gulf Investment Services, Oman & Emirates Holding, Al Izz Islamic Bank, Al Sharqia Investments and Al Madina Investments increased by 9.43 per cent, 6.67 per cent, 4.41 per cent, 3.57 per cent and 3.03 per cent, respectively. National Finance, Global Financial Investment and Muscat Finance declined by 5.30 per cent, 3.61 per cent and 1.68 per cent, respectively.

Industrial Index closed at 7,478.11 points, up by 0.34 per cent. Oman Fisheries, Al Anwar Ceramics, Galfar Engineering, Voltamp Energy and Oman Flour Mills gained 2.92 per cent, 1.39 per cent, 1.28 per cent, 0.43 per cent and 0.43 per cent, respectively. Gulf International Chemicals, Al Maha Ceramics and Al Jazeera Steel declined by 1.67 per cent, 1.55 per cent and 0.38 per cent, respectively.

Services Index retreated by 0.13 per cent to close at 2,817.33 points. Oman Telecommunica- tions Company, up by 0.38 per cent, was the sole sector gainer. Al Jazeera Services, Renaissance Services, Al Suwadi Power, OIFC and Ooredoo declined by 3.03 per cent, 1.40 per cent, 0.54 per cent, 0.46 per cent and 0.39 per cent, respectively.

Gulf bourses

Gulf stock markets moved narrowly in early, quiet trade on Monday although Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank (ADCB) rose after better-than-expected earnings for the first quarter.

The Abu Dhabi stock index edged up 0.01 per cent as ADCB added 1.5 per cent; it posted an 8 per cent rise in first-quarter profit to Dh1.11 billion, while analysts polled by Reuters had on average forecast Dh995.4 million.

Dubai’s index fell 0.3 per cent as courier Aramex lost 1.1 per cent after reporting a 5 per cent fall in quarterly profit due to a rise in provisions related to its incentive scheme. Profit was Dh91.8 million; EFG Hermes and SICO Bahrain had forecast Dh109.1 million and Dh105.6 million.

Union Properties slipped 1.0 per cent amid a tussle over the membership of its board. The company announced on Sunday that chairman Khalid Jassim bin Kalban and other directors had been replaced after stepping down, in the wake of a shareholder vote to ban board members from holding positions at competitors; Kalban is managing director at Dubai Investments .

Qatar’s index edged up 0.1 per cent as real estate firm Ezdan Holding jumped 3.5 per cent after reporting a 62 per cent surge in first-quarter net profit.

But in Saudi Arabia, the index climbed 0.3 per cent after 55 minutes of trade on the back of top petrochemical producer Saudi Basic Industries, which gained 0.8 per cent.