Market cap. of Muscat Securities Market has increased 40 times

17/08/2014 00:54 AST

The developments witnessed by the Sultanate in the past four decades made it one of the countries that enjoys high economic growth rates, said Ahmed bin Saleh Al Marhoon, director general of Muscat Securities Market (MSM).

"This is reflected positively in the living standards that Omanis enjoy in terms of better education, health, transport and IT&C services, thanks to the Royal Directives of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said," he pointed out.

While stating that the capital market is usually the engine of growth for comprehensive economic development in all countries, Ahmed bin Saleh Al Marhoon said that the MSM became operational in 1989 with 48 companies.

He said the market capitalisation was not in excess of OMR400 million. Today, there are 118 companies with more than OMR15 billion market capitalisation. This means that the market capitalisation increased almost 40 times throughout this period with potential for more development in the upcoming years.

Foreign investment

MSM, which is a member of many associations, became a full member of the World Federation of Exchanges two years ago after completing all requirements. This allows it to remain abreast of the developments regarding the world stock markets. "There are no barriers on foreign investment, which now represents 30 per cent of the MSM, he added.

"Share prices in the MSM are considered the lowest compared to the neighbouring countries, which suffer from speculation that can see prices skyrocketing and then hitting records lows," he said.

Al Marhoon stressed the importance of timely disclosure and pointed out that communication is maintained with the Capital Market Authority (CMA) to reduce the disclosure period from 30 days to 15 days to avoid leakage of information and informed decisions by investors.

"The financial results announced by the MSM listed companies for the first half of the year are encouraging, positive and reflected well on the MSM "30" Index over the past period," he said.

Transparency

Many brokerage companies' executives pointed out that the MSM is one of the best regional markets due to high level of organisation, transparency, available business opportunities, yields and stability.

In this connection, Hassan bin Ali Jawad, managing director for United Securities Company said that MSM is one of the most advanced markets in the region in terms of introducing new investment tools and attracting foreign investments.

He praised the MSM crisis management policies, which paid well during the global financial crisis in 2008 and its implications for the stock markets.

He affirmed that the Sultanate has the ability to handle any crisis, and can devise the best solutions to deal with these, thanks to the crisis-management culture it has.

Times of Oman