MSM comes under bear grip

05/06/2016 07:28 AST

Along with its peers elsewhere in the region, the Muscat Securities Market ended the week on a bearish note following continuous selling pressure. At the session’s close on Thursday, the benchmark MSM30 index fell to 5819.81 points, while market capitalisation stood at RO 6.431 billion. Shariah Index rose by 0.23 per cent to reach 875.22 points. In the sectorial indices, the Industrial Index ended the day in the green marginally by two points. The Services Index closed flat for the day. The local bourse has been on a roller-coaster ride for the last couple of weeks with investors booking profit on index heavy weights despite the fact that oil prices made gains during the same period.

“It is clear that the local bourse does not go after oil price alone. Other external factors also guide the market,” said an analyst at a local brokerage house. Opec refrained from changing its oil output policy on Thursday, leaving oil trading at $48 a barrel, after starting the session around $49.0 a barrel. 691186 He does not expect much activity in the coming weeks except share specific trading. Except for Wednesday, trading remained dull on all other days last week. “Activity is set to remain subdued, given the approach of Ramadhan and summer holidays”, he said.

On the last day trading on Thursday, a total of 13.586 million shares were traded amounting to aggregate turnover of RO 3.169 million. Bank Sohar was most active in terms of volume as well as turnover. Raysut Cement was the top gainer, up by 2.03 per cent, while Construction Material Industries was the top loser, down by 6.25 per cent. Omani and foreign investors ended the day as net sellers to an extent of RO 35,000 and RO 36,000 respectively. GCC investors emerged as net sellers to an extent of RO 62,000.

In the region, Dubai’s index dropped 1.6 per cent, weighed down by a 1.2-per cent decline in blue chip Dubai Islamic Bank. The banking sector was the main drag on Abu Dhabi’s index, which declined 0.7 per cent. Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank fell 3.5 per cent. Qatar’s index erased early gains and retreated 0.4 per cent to its lowest close in 3-1/2 months. Vodafone Qatar dropped 2.1 per cent. Riyadh’s stock index added 0.5 per cent with support from some petrochemical shares on the back of some stability in oil prices. Saudi Basic Industries climbed 1.5 per cent. Cairo’s main index rose 0.6 per cent to 7,618 points, nearing minor technical resistance at its mid-May peak of 7,670 points.

Times of Oman