MSM index ends lower

Muscat Finance, up by 1.64 per cent, was the top gainer while Oman Education & Training was the top loser, with a loss of 5.96 per cent.

MUSCAT: Dull trading continued on the Muscat Securities Market on Monday. The MSM30 witnessed dull trading activity to end the session at 5,726.88 points, down by 0.07 per cent. The MSM Sharia Index closed at 857.85 points, down by 0.39 per cent. Bank Nizwa was the most active in terms of volume as well as in turnover. Muscat Finance, up by 1.64 per cent, was the top gainer while Oman Education & Training was the top loser, with a loss of 5.96 per cent.

A total number of 368 trades were executed on Monday, generating a turnover of OMR1.73 million with 8.47 million shares changing hands. Out of 38 traded securities, six advanced, 16 declined and 16 remained unchanged. GCC and Arab investors switched to net buyers for OMR97,000 followed by Omani investors for OMR23,000 while foreign investors remained net sellers for OMR120,000 worth of shares.

Financial Index was stable at 7,617.15 points, up by 0.02 per cent. Muscat Finance, Bank Muscat and HSBC Bank Oman gained 1.64 per cent, 0.89 per cent and 0.85 per cent, respectively. Al Madina Investment, Oman & Emirates, Al Madina Takaful, Al Anwar Holding and Gulf Investment Services declined by 1.75 per cent, 1.52 per cent, 1.41 per cent, 1.05 per cent and 0.87 per cent, respectively.

Industrial Index retreated 0.28 per cent to close at 7,359.75 points. Gulf International Chemical, up by 0.35 per cent, was only gainer. Construction Materials, Al Hassan Engineering, Raysut Cement, Al Anwar Ceramics and Oman Cement declined by 3.13 per cent, 1.79 per cent, 1.33 per cent, 1.16 per cent and 0.43 per cent, respectively.

Services Index ended negatively at 3,040.04 points, down by 0.24 per cent. Phoenix Power and Al Maha Petroleum gained 0.68 per cent and 0.35 per cent, respectively. Oman Education & Training, Al Suwadi Power, Al Jazeera Services, Port Services and Ooredoo declined by 5.96 per cent, 3.23 per cent, 2 per cent, 0.85 per cent and 0.61 per cent, respectively.

Indian shares fall

Indian stocks fell to the lowest level in more than a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi hinted at raising taxes on income from share trading.

Tax payment from individuals profiting from stock-market investments is low and there’s a need to find ways to ensure levies are raised in a fair, efficient and transparent way, Modi said over the weekend.

The benchmark Sensex dropped 0.9 per cent at the close in Mumbai. The gauge, now down 1.2 per cent for 2016, has fallen for nine of the past 11 days amid concern a cash crunch caused by the government’s move to invalidate high-value bank notes will crimp economic growth. Monday’s trading volume on the NSE Nifty 50 Index was 40 per cent lower than the 30-day mean.

“Fears of excessive taxation by the government and the cash crunch is leading the market fall,” Chakri Lokapriya, the Mumbaibased managing director at TCG Advisory Services, which manages about $3 billion, said by phone.

Twenty five of the 30 members on the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex fell. Cipla slipped 4.7 per cent and Lupin declined 3 per cent. Drugmaker Divi’s Laboratories, not a part of the gauge, slid 12 per cent, dropping for a third day; the company plans to respond to US FDA observations made in an inspection of its plant within the time allowed, it said.