Oman stock market trading volumes fall

Muscat: Trading volumes on the Muscat Securities Market (MSM) this month is showing a declining trend as investors keep away from the bourse on lack of trigger factors to prop up sentiment.
The average daily turnover of the market fell by 29 per cent so far this month to OMR3.36 million, from OMR4.74 million daily turnover in May. There were eight trading session so far this month, against 22 trading sessions in May.
“The first quarter results were good and crude oil also started picking up to touch $50 per barrel. After the first quarter results, there was no additional trigger factor in the market,” said a market analyst, who does not want to be named. This led to poor liquidity in the stock market and less participation of foreign investors. Now, the stock market investors are waiting for the second quarter results. Sources also said that technically, the market is positive.
In fact, foreign investors were net sellers in the last couple of weeks. The foreign investors were net sellers to the extent of 3.9 per cent for the week ending June 2, while it was 19.47 per cent in the following week.
Market sources believe that a better than anticipated result in the second quarter will result in higher participation from both retail and institutionalinvestors, which could prop up trading volumes on the bourse. The second quarter results are expected in the second week of July.
In fact, the market volumes were low in 2015 as investors kept away from the bourse. The average daily turnover or investor participation was down by 39.7 per cent to OMR5.6 million in 2015 from as high as OMR9.29 million in 2014. The Muscat bourse posted a turnover of OMR1,389.65 million on a turnover of 5733.82 million shares last year. The market capitalisation of Muscat Securities Market stood at OMR17.05 billion on Monday.