Oman shares decline on weak sentiment

Muscat: Shares on the Muscat bourse marginally fell on weak sentiment. The MSM30 Index ended marginally at 5,766.49 points, down by 0.06 per cent. The MSM Sharia Index ended at 859.48 points, up by 0.17 per cent. Al Madina Takaful was the most active in terms of volume as well as turnover. With a gain of 7.06 per cent, Al Madina Takaful was the top gainer while Al Hassan Engineering was the top loser with a loss of 4 per cent.
As many as 984 trades were executed on Tuesday, generating turnover of OMR3.15 million with 20.85 million shares changing hands. Out of 46 traded securities, 19 advanced, nine declined and 18 remained unchanged. Omani investors remained net buyers for OMR256,000 while foreign investors were net sellers for OMR206,000 followed by GCC and Arab investors for OMR50,000 worth of shares.
Financial Index closed at 7,959.71 points, up by 0.14 per cent. Al Madina Takaful, Al Madina Investments, Gulf Investment Services, National Finance and BankDhofar gained 7.06 per cent, 3.45 per cent, 1.69 per cent, 1.43 per cent and 0.80 per cent, respectively. Al Sharqia Investment, National Bank of Oman, Bank Sohar and Oman United Insurance declined by 2.74 per cent, 0.82 per cent, 0.62 per cent and 0.56 per cent, respectively.
Industrial Index advanced 0.51 per cent to close at 7,610.59 points. Oman Fisheries, Construction Materials, Sembcorp Salalah, Al Suwadi Power and Galfar Engineering increased by 4 per cent, 3.23 per cent, 1.67 per cent, 1.65 per cent and 1.12 per cent, respectively. Al Hassan Engineering, down by 4 per cent, was the only loser.
Services Index declined by 0.07 per cent to end at 3,015.23 points. Renaissance Services, OIFC and Port Services gained 0.47 per cent, 0.46 per cent and 0.40 per cent, respectively. Phoenix Power, Ooredoo and Al Jazeera Services declined by 3.33 per cent, 0.64 per cent and 0.51 per cent, respectively.
Sensex, Nifty surge
A set of strong corporate earnings numbers gave the market enough comfort as the Sensex soared by over 258 points on Tuesday to end at 27,376, a two-month high, with covering of short positions ahead of derivatives expiry making the job easier.
The big domestic trigger coming up next is Union budget, which is due on February 1.
Encouraging results from blue-chips led by HDFC Bank, Tata Communications and HCL Tech got investors going, with mood turning positive after a higher opening in Europe.
The 30-share pack resumed higher and moved in a range of 27,393.35 and 27,140.85 before ending at 27,375.58, a sharp gain of 258.24 points, or 0.95 per cent. This is its highest closing since November 10, 2016, when it closed at 27,517.68. It had gained 82.84 points in the previous session.
The NSE 50-share Nifty also recaptured the 8,400-mark by rising 84.30 points, or 1 per cent, to end at 8,475.80.
The expiry of futures and options contracts is coming up on Thursday. The rupee too closed higher against the dollar.
But traders remained cautious ahead of the Union budget which will throw light on how the government spends money on various social and infrastructure projects.
HT Media went up 1.32 per cent after the company put up a similar show, helped by higher other income and lower tax expenses. Tata Communications surged 5.35 per cent after an over 12-fold jump in December quarter profit.
In the domestic market, 26 stocks in the 30-share Sensex team ended higher while the remaining lost.
Metal firmed up 1.69 per cent, followed by auto (1.67 per cent), power (1.43 per cent), oil and gas (1.31 per cent), capital goods (1.26 per cent), PSU (1.12 per cent) and banking (0.86 per cent).
Bajaj Auto came out on top, up 3.42 per cent. M&M rose 2.68 per cent, Adani Ports 2.41 per cent, Coal India 1.96 per cent, L&T 1.88 per cent and Tata Motors (1.74 per cent).
But Bharti Airtel fell 1 per cent, followed by Infosys, HUL and ICICI Bank.
Broader markets also traded in a positive zone. The BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices rose 0.96 per cent and 0.85 per cent, respectively.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 0.22 per cent while Shanghai Composite edged higher 0.18 per cent. However, Japan's Nikkei fell 0.55 per cent. European shares were trading higher too.