Muscat bourse edges up by 2.1% in the first half; turnover dips

05/07/2015 03:35 AST

Share prices on the Muscat Securities Market (MSM) showed a growth with the main index of MSM increasing by 81 points in the first half of 2015 despite regional and international political crisis.

The index closed at 6,424 points at the end of June, an increase of 2.1 per cent. However, the turnover of the market fell by 85 per cent to OMR707.3 million compared to OMR1.3 billion in the same period last year.

The market was affected in the past six months by several local and global factors, such as the decline in oil prices that affected the revenues of the Sultanate, which relies heavily on oil to finance government expenditure.

The market was also affected by the weakness of investment-oriented liquidity with more and more investors fearing a fall in market after the sharp decline in crude oil prices in global markets. The political crisis, the Yemen war and the global economic crisis, most recently the Greece's debt crisis, affected various markets in the region and outside.

Last February saw the highest trading volume at OMR176.6 million while last May recorded the minimum trading volume at OMR75 million. Muscat bourse recorded in the first half of this year OMR463 million gains in its market capitalisation. The total market value of listed companies in the market by the end of June 2015 rose to OMR15.27 billion.

The market listed the shares of Phoenix Power which floated initial public offering recently. Many companies raised their capital by way of bonus shares, but the decline in stock prices affected the total market value, which was expected for further climb with rising of capitals listed in the market.

Times of Oman