Saturday 16 / November / 2024
Muscat: In a dull trading session, the MSM30 Index remained stable at 5,816.64 points, down by 0.03 per cent. Turnover was at its lowest in the last five months. The MSM Sharia Index closed at 876.82 points, up by 0.21 per cent. Galfar Engineering was most active in terms of volume while Bank Muscat led in turnover. Oman Fisheries was the top gainer on Monday, up by 1.69 per cent while National Bank of Oman was the top loser, down by 2 per cent.
As many as 576 trades were executed on Monday, generating turnover of OMR1.4 million with 6.4 million shares changing hands. Out of 33 traded securities, six advanced, four declined and 23 remained unchanged.
GCC and Arab investors were net buyers for OMR70,000 followed by Omani investors for OMR64,000 while foreign investors were net sellers for OMR134,000 worth of shares.
Financial Index ended lower at 7,396.35 points, down by 0.21 per cent. NBO declined by 2 per cent to close at OMR0.245.
Industrial Index gained 0.13 per cent to close at 7,181.44 points. Oman Fisheries, Raysut Cement, Al Maha Ceramics and Salalah Mills gained by 1.69 per cent, 1.19 per cent, 0.48 per cent and 0.34 per cent, respectively. However, Galfar Engineering and Gulf International Chemicals declined by 0.98 per cent and 0.40 per cent, respectively.
Services Index closed at 3,253.29 points, up by 0.03 per cent. Phoenix Power and Ooredoo Oman gained by 0.65 per cent and 0.54 per cent, respectively. OIFC, down by 0.51 per cent, was the only sector loser.
Emerging stocks rise
Emerging-market stocks and bonds climbed as the weakest US jobs data since 2010 boosted optimism the Federal Reserve will delay raising interest rates.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Currency Index added 0.7 per cent at 11:37 a.m. in London led by Indonesia’s rupiah and Malaysia’s ringgit. A measure of developing-market stocks rose for a third day, topping its 50-day moving average. Philippine shares paced gains in Asia, while banking and oil shares in Russia jumped as crude advanced the most in almost two weeks. Turkish bonds jumped for a fourth day. The rand extended a five-day gain after its credit rating was affirmed by S&P Global Markets on Friday.
The jobs report crushed bets on the US central bank increasing interest rates in the next two months, with the odds of a hike this month falling to 4 per cent from 30 per cent a week ago. Investors have returned to riskier assets in the last two weeks following a selloff that pared the MSCI Emerging Markets Index’s 2016 gain to 1.7 per cent by the end of last month. Fed Chair Janet Yellen speaks in Philadelphia on Monday and may offer guidance on the extent to which Friday’s disappointing payrolls data will push back the timetable for tightening monetary policy.
“The juice today comes from the terrible non-farm payroll number on Friday,” said Nathan Griffiths, a senior emerging-market equities manager who helps oversee $1.1 billion at NN Investment in The Hague and holds a greater share of Russian and Indian stocks than the emerging-market benchmark. “We will see how sustainable is the boost to risk because it is a bad enough number that people should start to worry about the US economy.”
The pound weakened against 15 out of 16 major peers after two surveys showed more Britons were willing to vote to leave the EU than those wanting to stay. That’s reviving concern that a June 23 referendum will throw global markets into turmoil and undermine confidence in the 28-nation bloc.
The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 1 per cent to 823.91, poised for the highest close since May 2. All 10 industry groups increased, paced by commodity companies and consumer-discretionary shares.
