Muscat: Shares listed on the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) rose last week by 35 points and closed at 4,725 points. Benefiting from the rise in banking and telecommunications stocks and a number of other stocks included in the index sample.
Local investment funds and institutions tended to buy to absorb the surplus selling by individual investors.
Trading data issued by the Muscat Stock Exchange showed that purchases by local investment institutions accounted for more than 79 percent of the total trading value, compared to sales of 62 percent of the total trading value, while Omani individual investors tended to purchase more than 79 percent of the total trading value.
To sell, with the aim of providing liquidity to subscribe to shares of OQ Gas Networks, which is expected to be offered for public subscription during the next few weeks, individual investors reduced their purchases to 10.3 percent of the total trading value, compared to sales of 23.2 percent.
The movements of local investment institutions spread an atmosphere of optimism in last week’s trading, despite the fluctuation in stock movement. The stock market witnessed an increase in the prices of 20 securities, compared to only three securities whose prices had increased in the previous week, and the number of losing securities decreased to 29 securities, compared to 50 securities whose prices had declined in the previous week.
The market capitalisation of the Muscat Stock Exchange rose at the end of last week to OMR23.74 billion recording weekly gains of OMR68.1 million.
At the level of sectoral indicators, the financial sector index recorded the highest gains, rising by 50 points, the services sector index rose by 13 points, the Sharia index recorded an increase of about 3 points, while the industrial sector index declined by 29 points.