Muscat shares fall for fourth straight day

The MSM-30 index sank 1.11 per cent for the fourth consecutive day to close at 5,632 points, bringing the four-day decline to 3.1 per cent.

Volume in terms of number of shares fell 41 per cent to 16.184 million shares against the previous day’s 27.42 million shares. Volume in term of value plunged 50.6 per cent, from RO12.04 million to RO5.95 million. Foreign investors were net buyers yesterday as they bought a net of 17.1 per cent (RO1.06 million) in the total turnover. Foreign investor buying in the month to date has touched RO27.18 million.

Seven scrips that notched higher volumes among the top-10 volume traded scrips were losers indicating a bias towards the sell side of the market. The industry sector was the biggest loser yesterday which closed 1.7 per cent lower to 6,354 points. The Services & Insurance sector and Banking & Investment sector decreased 1.54 per cent to 2,413 points and 0.58 per cent to 7,730 points, respectively.

Market breadth was negative with 34 declines and six advances out of 52 traded securities. The top two gainers were: Al Omaniya Financial Services (4.76 per cent) and Al Hassan Engineering (2.49 per cent) to close at RO2.200 and RO0.288, respectively. The top two losers were: Oman Cables Industry (-5.32 per cent) and Al Maha Petroleum (-4.76 per cent) to close at RO1.051 and RO8.000, respectively. The top two by volume traded were: Al Jazeira Services (2.6 million shares) and Oman & Emirates Inv. (OM) (2.5 million shares). The top two by value traded were: Omantel (RO1 million) and Oman & Emirates Inv. (OM) (RO0.58 million).

Gulf indices fall

The Dubai Financial Market General Index lost six per cent to 1,747.48 points yesterday, trimming the gain for the quarter to 11 per cent. Abu Dhabi’s ADX General Index retreated 2.1 per cent, paring this year’s advance to 7.7 per cent.

Emirates NBD lost 4.8 per cent to Dhs3.37. Aldar Properties slid 9.8 per cent, the most since September 2005, to Dhs3.31. Saudi Arabia’s Tadawul All Share Index fell 2.4 per cent to 5,466.42, heading for the lowest close since April. The Kuwait Stock Exchange Index declined 0.6 per cent and the Bahrain All Share Index decreased 1.5 per cent.