Renewed optimism witnessed on MSX

Muscat: The initiatives announced by the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) in cooperation with the National Financial Sustainability Programme and the Omani Investment Authority (OIA) have restored optimism on the MSX which witnessed a consecutive rise in the last five days of June trading.

The benchmark MSX index recorded its best monthly rise during the current year, rising 86 points to end its trading at 4,768 points, its best level since April 17.

On June 21, the MSX, in cooperation with the National Programme for Financial Sustainability, announced six major initiatives. The initiatives aim to improve public finances, prepare for industry transformations, and support the private financial sector.

These initiatives include market representation, securities lending, pooled trading accounts, company market creation and governance enhancements, in addition to the OIA’s announcement of allocating OMR100 million to support liquidity in the stock exchange through the Liquidity Fund Initiative.

The OIA said that the Liquidity Fund initiative includes a portfolio valued at 100 million Omani riyals to support the initiatives of the market maker and liquidity provider on the Muscat Stock Exchange, explaining that the portfolio will constitute a percentage of the daily trading volume on the stock exchange, and the agency also affirmed its readiness to cooperate with companies that will operate in Market making in the field of attracting new investments and liquidity to the Stock Exchange.

It is expected that this positive atmosphere will be reflected in the trading of the Muscat Stock Exchange in July, at a time when public joint stock companies will announce their financial results for the first half of this year.
These initiatives came at a time when the national economy is witnessing good growth with high government revenues and increased government spending, which is expected to reflect positively on the public shareholding companies listed on the stock exchange.

During June, the Muscat Stock Exchange also benefited from the positive disclosures regarding the expected mergers and the entry of strategic investors in some listed companies, so the stock market witnessed an increase in the prices of 43 securities compared to 26 securities whose prices fell and 25 securities that stabilised at their previous levels.

The sectoral indices recorded an increase, except for the service sector index, which declined by 6 points, while the financial sector index recorded the highest rise, up 271 points, the industrial sector index rose 155 points, and the Sharia index rose to 478 points, up 12 points.

The trading value decreased in June to OMR52.8 million compared to OMR59.6 million in May and OMR122.4 million in April. The number of deals executed decreased to 8,308 compared to about 14,000 in May and 11,000 in April.
This decline is due to the decline in the number of trading days in June to 18 days, compared to 23 days in May.

It is also because most of the subscribers from the category of small shareholders in Abraaj Energy Services Company sold their shares, in addition to the fluctuation in the trading value during the month witnessed on June 14. The highest trading value was recorded at OMR7.3 million while June 12 saw the lowest trading value at OMR1.1 million.
Omantel topped the most traded companies in terms of turnover at OMR7.2 million, representing 13.6 per cent of the total trading value.

The market value of the companies listed on the Muscat Stock Exchange rose at the end of June's trading to OMR23.9 billion, recording monthly gains of OMR276.9 million.