18/05/2015 05:35 AST
Amid range-bound activity, the Muscat Securities Market ended the last day of trading with gains last week. The benchmark MSM30 Index closed higher at 6361.86 points, up by 0.75 per cent, while the Shariah Index rose by 0.16 per cent to close at 975.16 points. Analysts expect the local market to witness stock specific activity in the coming weeks. “With the first-quarter earnings season is largely over, there will be fewer catalysts for the markets in the next few weeks”, said a research head at a leading brokerage firm.
Although the market is expected to trade sideways following mixed messages from oil market, the concern that full-scale fighting in Yemen may soon resume, will not have much impact here, he said.
“The Yemen conflict is not a big lead for the local bourse, but investors in the region, especially in Saudi Arabia, which leads the coalition against the rebellion in Yemen, may react negatively to it”, he added.
On Thursday, when trading ended, a total number of 903 trades were executed generating a turnover of RO 7.22 million with more than 32.09 million shares changing hands.
The MSM30 Index market capitalisation as at the end of the day stood at RO 6.883 billion.
Of the 47 traded securities, 16 advanced, 7 declined and 24 remained unchanged. Foreign investors switched to net buyers for RO 1.43 million while GCC and Arab Investors were net sellers for RO 985,000 followed by Omani investors for RO 452,000 worth of shares.
The Financial Index closed the day 86 points higher than its previous close. Meanwhile, the Industry Index dropped by 3 points for the day. The Service Index closed the day higher by 2 points.
Bank Sohar was the most active in terms of volume as well as turnover, while the top gainer was Oman & Emirates, up by 4.46 per cent. National Mineral Water was down by 9.30 per cent becoming the top loser for the day.
Meanwhile, other stock markets in the region continued to digest index compiler Morgan Stanley Capital International’s (MSCI) semi-annual review, which was positive for most Gulf markets.
MSCI last week launched a series of related regional and capped indexes across Gulf countries, covering Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain.
So far, MSCI only had provisional indexes covering the $570 billion Saudi stock market, which is set to open to foreign investors in June.
The provisional indexes are to be transitioned into the new standalone ones, with constituents and weightings to be announced as part of MSCI’s semi-annual index review on May 12, the index provider said in a statement.
Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank share price jumped 5.8 per cent as its weighting in the UAE Index has been increased to 18.6 per cent from 15.3 per cent.
Qatar’s benchmark index was the best performer in the Gulf and rose one per cent as Ezdan Holding and Qatar Insurance surged 7.3 and six per cent respectively. MSCI added both stocks to its emerging markets index for the first time in its semi-annual review.
Saudi Arabia’s main index edged up 0.6 per cent as blue-chip lenders Al Rajhi Bank and National Commercial Bank rose 2.4 and 1.5 per cent respectively.
Petrochemicals giant Saudi Basic Industries jumped 2.2 per cent even as oil prices swung between gain and loss on worries about global economic growth.
Dubai’s index lagged, inching up just 0.1 per cent as construction companies Drake and Scull International (DSI) and Arabtec fell 3.0 and 1.2 per cent.
DSI reported a 38 per cent drop in first-quarter profit on Thursday, missing an analyst’s estimate as revenue fell, and it warned that difficulties in Saudi Arabia would affect its performance this year.
Egypt’s market dropped 2.6 per cent to a five-month low of 8,303 points, extending losses after MSCI’s decision to exclude Telecom Egypt from its emerging markets index.
Oman Daily Observer
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