18/02/2014 06:53 AST
The MSM30 Index ended lower at 7,151.35 points, down by 0.40 per cent. MSM Sharia Index closed at 1131.73 points, down by 0.26 per cent. Gulf Investment Services was the most active in terms of volume as well as turnover. Al Batinah Development was the top gainer and closed up by 5.75 per cent while United Power was the top loser and closed down by 7.50 per cent.
As many as 1,675 trades were executed in yesterday's trading session generating turnover of OMR11.80 million with over 31.78 million shares traded. Out of 65 traded stocks, 11 advanced, 21 declined and 33 were unchanged. Foreign investors were net buyers for OMR646,000 while GCC & Arab were net sellers for OMR388,000 followed by Omani investors for OMR258,000 worth of shares.
Financial Sector Index was down by 0.10 per cent at 8,515.22 points. DBIH, Oman United Insurance, Al Sharqiya Investment, Gulf Investment and National Securities increased by 5.75 per cent, 4.43 per cent, 2.39 per cent, 1.94 per cent, 1.05 per cent and 0.56 per cent respectively. Takaful Oman, ONIC Holding, Al Anwar Holding, Bank Nizwa and Alizz Islamic Bank declined by 1.87 per cent, 1.43 per cent, 1.05 per cent, 1.01 per cent and 0.92 per cent respectively.
The Industrial Sector Index was down by 0.29 per cent at 1,1020.48 points. Gulf International Chemicals was the only gainer and was up by 0.81 per cent to close at OMR0.248. National Aluminium, Raysut Cement, Jazeera Steel Product and Galfar Engineering declined by 4.50 per cent, 0.90 per cent, 0.51 per cent and 0.37 per cent respectively.
Services Sector Index was down by 0.28 per cent and closed at 3,797.20 points. Al Kamel Power, Majan College, Sohar Power and OIFC increased by 5.26 per cent, 2.17 per cent, 1.34 per cent and 0.36 per cent respectively. United Power, Renaissance Services, Nawras, Oman Telecom and Sembcorp Salalah declined by 7.50 per cent, 2.50 per cent, 0.65 per cent, 0.32 per cent and 0.26 per cent respectively.
Industries Qatar shares rise
Industries Qatar rose the most in almost three years in more than five times average trading after the country's biggest petrochemicals company announced a 42 per cent dividend increase.
The stock advanced 7.2 per cent, the most since March 2011, to QR192.7 in Doha after surging as much as 10 per cent earlier. About 1.3 million securities traded, 5.2 times the average volume of the last three months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The shares led a 1.3 per cent gain on the benchmark QE Index.
The Industries Qatar board recommended a dividend of QR11 ($3.02) per share for 2013 compared to QR7.73 for the previous year, the company said on Sunday. Full-year profit fell 4.8 per cent to QR8.0 billion riyals, below the QR8.4 billion analysts' estimate.
"I was expecting nine riyals a share so this is a significant positive surprise, much higher than what the regional petrochemical companies usually pay," Saugata Sarkar, head of research at Qatar National Bank Financial Services, said by phone from Doha yesterday. Shares have gained 14 per cent this year, while the Qatar gauge advanced 13 per cent.
Times of Oman
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