Friday 26 / July / 2024
Muscat: After recording the smallest monthly gain among the GCC markets last month, Oman’s MSX index recorded a 1.0 per cent fall during May-2022, according to a new report.
“The benchmark witnessed consistent declines since the start of the month only to recover partially during the last few trading sessions and close the month at 4,116.0 points,” the Kuwait-based investment, strategy research firm, said in its latest GCC Markets Monthly Report.
In terms of sectoral performance, both the Financial and Industrial indices recorded declines during the month at 0.65 per cent and 1.36 per cent to reach 6,557.9 and 6,257.8 points, respectively. The Services index showed the biggest decline of 3.4 per cent to close the month at 1,581.9 points, the report said.
The monthly trading activity on the exchange witnessed a significant decline as compared to last month. The total volume of shares traded during May-2022 went down 51.6 per cent to reach 252.5 million shares as compared to 522.1 million shares during April-2022.
Omanis represented over 94.3 per cent of the total value of buy trades during the month as compared to 93.11 per cent during April-2022. In terms of the total value of sell trades, Omanis represented 84.2 per cent of trades during May-2022 as compared to 92.1 per cent during the previous month.
In economic news, Oman’s Ministry of Economy officials reported that the Sultanates’ financial indicators for the first quarter of 2022 were healthy and show that the country’s economy is firmly on the path to recovery.
Some of the main reasons attributed to the positive economic outlook was that the state's general budget achieved a financial surplus of more than OMR300 million due to the rise in oil prices in the first quarter of the year. These better-than-expected financial performances for the first quarter of 2022 was also attributed to measures taken by the Oman government to ensure the sustainability of financial and economic conditions.
GCC aggregate index
The GCC aggregate index declined for the first time in six months by 7.5 per cent led by spillover effects from global peers that have seen declines for three out of the first five months this year, the Kamco Invest report said.
The decline in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) also came as investors booked profits on elevated valuations as markets in the GCC were some of the best performing this year.
All the markets in the GCC reported declines during May-2022 with Dubai witnessing the biggest drop of 10.0 per cent followed by Bahrain and Kuwait with declines of over 6.0 per cent.
Markets declined during the second and third week of the month by almost 11.0 per cent which was partially offset by gains during the last week.
The sector performance chart for the month showed that the declines during the month was led by heavyweight sectors in the GCC. Only the GCC F&B index showed noticeable gains during the month at 2.7 per cent and the Energy index was marginally up by 0.9 per cent, while the rest of the sectoral indices reported declines.
The Telecom index reported the steepest decline of 10.6 per cent followed by Materials and Pharma indices with declines of 8.6 per cent and 8.3 per cent, respectively.
Performance on the global front remained largely muted with a marginal decline of 0.2 per cent for the MSCI World Index during May-2022 that came after a steep decline of 8.4 per cent in April-2022.
Most of the key developed global markets showed low-single-digit gains during the month including Germany, UK and Japan. On the other hand, the Emerging Market index flattish as the decline in India was almost fully offset by a relief rally in China.
Boursa Kuwait
Kuwaiti benchmarks receded during May-2022 following a broad-based decline that affected most sectors on the exchange. The Premier Market index witnessed the biggest monthly decline of 6.8 per cent as constituent stocks in the index witnessed mixed returns during the month. The Main Market Index reported a slightly smaller decline of 5.0 per cent followed by the Main 50 Index which receded by 4.5 per cent.
Saudi Arabia (Tadawul)
Saudi Exchange reported its first decline in six months during May-2022 reeling under selling pressure from global equity markets. The benchmark TASI peaked at a closing high of 13,820.35 points at the end of the first week of the month but witnessed consistent declines thereafter resulting in a decline of 11.5 per cent that pushed it to a monthly low close of 12,235.91 points.
However, the index showed partial recovery during the last week of the month and wrapped the month at 12,921.7 points registering a smaller decline of 5.9 per cent.
Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange
The FTSE ADX index was the best performing market in the GCC during May-2022 despite registering a 0.3 per cent monthly slide to close at 10,054.9 points. In comparison, the exchange’s market cap increased by 0.7 per cent during the month to reach AED1.9 trillion. The benchmark also once again regained the lead in the GCC in terms of YTD-2022 gains that reached 18.5 per cent at the end of May-2022 after registering record growth during 2021.
Dubai Financial Market
The DFM General Index reported the biggest decline in the GCC during May-2022 ending the positive run seen over the previous seven consecutive months. The benchmark declined by 10.0 per cent during the month to close at 3,347.24 points after gains during the last four trading sessions failed to fully offset declines since the start of the month.
Qatar Exchange
Qatar Stock Exchange declined for the first time in six months during May-2022, in line with most of the GCC countries. Consistent declines since the start of the month pushed down the index to 12,919.4 points by the end of the month, resulting in a month-on-month decline of 4.9 per cent. The decline was broad-based across stocks which was also reflected in the 4.8 per cent decline in Qatar All Share Index.
Bahrain Bourse
Bahrain Bourse declined for the second consecutive month during May-2022, in line with the rest of the GCC markets. The benchmark recorded the second-biggest decline in the GCC during the month at 6.6 per cent mainly led by monthly declines in five out of seven sectoral indices. The decline during May-2022 lowered YTD-2022 gains for the aggregate benchmark to single digits at 6.9 per cent.
