Financial stocks rise on MSM

MUSCAT: Oman’s Muscat bourse witnessed a growth of 221 points in the financial sector index in April 2017 to close at 8,055 points due to better financial performance of financial institutions in the first quarter.

The improved sentiment, which increased the share prices for a number of financial sector companies, did not reflect well on the other sectors, which are experiencinga downside. While the share prices of 48 companies fell, 16 others went up and 13 companies remained unchanged.

The decline pushed the MSM30 index, the main index of the Muscat Securities Market (MSM), and other sectorindices down by varying degrees.

The industry index recorded the biggest fall to close at 7,452 points; reflecting a drop of 348 points.The services sector lost 64 points and the Sharia market fell by 44 points to close at 799 points. The decline witnessed by MSM last month pushed the MSM30 down by 37 points to close at 5,513 points; the lowest monthly closing in 2017.

The poor market performance could be attributed to a weak sentiment due to a drop in oil prices and the effect of the prevailing economic conditions on some listed companies, especially the industrial sector.

While MSM witnessed the lowest monthly value of trading in April 2017 at OMR71.4 million, the highest monthly value of trading was recorded in February 2017 at OMR116 million.

The total value of trading during the first four months of 2017 stood at OMR372.2 million, compared with OMR389.8 million for

The industry index recorded the biggest fall to close at 7,452 points, reflecting a drop of 348 points. The services sector lost 64 points and the Sharia market fell 44 points to close at 799 points.

the same period last year.

The share of Bank Muscat in the total value of trading stood at 11.3 per cent or OMR8.1 million, followed by ACWA Power Barka share, with OMR7.9 million and Al Anwar Holding with OMR5.3 million.

MSM also indicated an increase in purchases by GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), Arab and foreign investors at OMR16.3 million or 22.8 per cent of the total value of trading, compared with sales worth OMR13.5 million, which represent 18.9 per cent of the total value of trading.

In April this year, market capitalisation stood at about OMR17.9 billion; showing an increase of OMR250 million from March,owing to the listing of a number of issues by closed joint stock companies. -