MSM slips amid low trading volume

21/06/2015 02:24 AST

Amid low trading volume, the Muscat Securities Market ended the week on a weak note as many retail investors kept off the market with the beginning of the holy month of Ramadhan. The benchmark MSM30 Index ended the week at 6,455.44 points, down by 0.20 per cent. The MSM Sharia Index decreased 0.04 per cent to close at 998.21 points. The Financial Index ended the day lower by 86 points, while the Industry Index and Services Index closed lower by 19 points and 6 points respectively.

Analysts expect the trading volumes to drop for the duration of Ramadhan, which began on Thursday.

“Weak oil prices and expected drop in trading activities during the fasting month are expected to limit any gains”, said an analyst at a brokerage firm.

Oil prices, another important factor affecting investor sentiment, have slipped in Asian trade on Thursday after US government data showed gasoline stocks and distillate inventories rose last week.

“The market may stock specific activity in the coming weeks of trading”, he added.

On the last day of trading on Thursday, Al Anwar Holding was the most active in terms of volume and turnover. The top gainer was Al Maha Ceramics, up by 2.93 per cent while Renaissance Services, down by 4.19 per cent, was the day’s top loser.

Al Anwar Holding, which has a 51 per cent stake in Falcon Insurance, informed the local bourse that it was planning to float its shares in the subsidiary in an initial public offer. “Details such as the volume of the offer, price and timing will be finalised and announced after receiving those approvals”, Al Anwar said in the statement.

GCC investors ended the day as net sellers to an extent of RO 132,000, while the foreign and Omani investors emerged as net buyers to an extent of RO 218,000 and RO 41,000 respectively.

MSM30 Index market capitalization as at the end of the day stood at RO 7.028 billion. Most other Gulf markets also slipped, with the exception of Qatar, which inched up 0.1 per cent. In Saudi Arabia, the main index edged down 0.4 per cent. A negative factor for the broader Saudi market was the absence of any significant fund inflows from abroad since the bourse opened to direct foreign investment in the beginning of last week.

Dubai’s index fell 0.6 per cent, as heavyweight Emaar Properties slid 1.0 per cent after its Egyptian subsidiary Emaar Misr priced its initial public offer at 3.8 Egyptian pounds per share. It had said this month that the offer would be priced at between £3.5 and £4.25 per share. Egypt’s index edged up 0.2 per cent but the market showed a roughly equal split between gainers and losers. Abu Dhabi’s index edged up 0.2 per cent as most blue chips rose.

Oman Daily Observer