Sigh of relief as MSM rallies to gains

20/11/2016 07:17 AST

Investors on the Muscat Securities Market heaved a sigh of relief towards the end of last week following gains on some counters. Buying on some blue chips carried the benchmark MSM30 Index to a recent high of 5,496.05 points on the last day of closing on Thursday. While the turnover climbed to RO 1.742 million, the MSM30 Index market capitalisation at the end of trading on Thursday stood at RO 6.312 billion. Analysts do not find the rally as a pointer to withdrawal of bears from the market. “Although the rally brought some relief last week, the market is still looking for more triggers especially on the 2017 budget”, said an analyst at a local brokerage company.

The recovery on the local market should be seen as a follow-up of improvement in global and regional sentiments, he said. All the markets in the region witnessed stronger performance amid recovery in the oil prices. UAE and Saudi equities revealed outperformance as compared to other markets. “What the markets are looking for is a clarity in terms of oil price trend post the upcoming Opec meeting scheduled towards the end of the month”, he added. On Thursday’s trading, foreign investors ended the day as net sellers to an extent of RO 79,000. GCC and Omani investors emerged as net buyers to an extent of RO 62,000 and RO 35,000 respectively.

Al Anwar Holding was the most active in terms of volume while Bank Muscat led in terms of turnover. Taageer Finance, up 1.74 per cent, was the top gainer while Al Jazeera Services remained the top loser, with a loss of 2.60 per cent. The Financial Index ended the day higher by 5 points. The Industrial Index ended marginally lower by two points. The Services Index ended the day marginally lower by 1 point. MSM Shariah Index ended 1 point down for the day. In the region, The Saudi index is now up 19.5 per cent over the last 30 days, while Abu Dhabi index jumped 2.6 per cent, its largest single-day gain since June Dubai’s main index added 1.4 per cent with activity focusing on smaller shares usually traded by local speculative investors. Investment firm Shuaa Capital soared 12.2 per cent.

Oman Daily Observer