Saturday 14 / September / 2024
Muscat: After witnessing declines for the previous two months, Oman’s MSX 30 index witnessed 1.8 percent gain in August-2024 to close the month at 4,746.4 points, according to a new report.
“In terms of sectoral performance, two out of the three sectors in the MSX Stock Exchange recorded gains during the month led by the Financial Index with a 1.3 percent uptick followed by the Services Index which recorded a marginal gain of 0.2 percent during the month,” Kamco Invest said in ites latest GCC Markets Monthly Report August 2024.
Comparatively, the Industrial Index witnessed a 1 percent fall during August-2024 to close the month at 5,881.4 points. Sohar Bank spearheaded the Financial Indices’ monthly gain after it recorded a 6.7 percent share price increase during the month. Similarly, the fall in share prices of some utility companies such as Muscat Gases Company (-8.2 percent) and National Gases Company (-13.5 percent) contributed to the fall in the Industrial Index during the similar period.
The monthly stock performance chart was topped by Musandam Power Co with a gain of 20 percent followed by Dhofar Insurance Co and Al Anwar Ceramic Tiles Co with gains of 9.5 percent and 7.6 percent, respectively. On the decliner’s side, the Financial Corporation Company topped with a decline of 21.7 percent followed by Barka Water and Power Company and National Gases Company with declines of 15.4 percent and 13.5 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, trading activity showed a significant decline during the month. Total volume of shares traded on the exchange reached 260 million shares during August-2024 as compared to 697.6 million shares traded during July-2024. Sohar Bank topped the volume traded chart for the month with 38.7 million traded shares followed by Bank Muscat and Bank Nizwa at 32.5 million and 19.4 million shares, respectively. On the other hand, total value traded in the exchange fell 71.6 percent during the month to reach OMR42.3 million as compared to OMR148.8 million in July-2024. Bank Muscat topped the list of the most traded stocks by value during August-2024 at OMR8.3 million followed by Sohar Bank and Oman Telecommunications Company at OMR5.3 million and OMR3.4 million, respectively.
In economic news, the Sultanate’s Ministry of Economy has reported that Oman’s Manufacturing sector witnessed one of the fastest growth during Q1-2024 reaching 9.2 percent. This is one of the key sectors that are appropriated for economic diversification during Q1-2024. The sector’s growth has underlined the progress that is being made by the government as per the framework of the 10th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025).
Moreover, there has been remarkable growth in the refined Petroleum Products Industry (67.6 percent), Basic Chemical Industry (6.4 percent) and other manufacturing industries (6.3 percent) during Q1-2024. On the other hand, Moody’s ratings has upgraded its ratings outlook for Oman as the Sultanate’s fiscal performance improved and with supportive oil prices. The ratings agency changed its outlook on the Sultanate from Stable to Positive and affirmed its Ba1 long-term issuer and long-term senior unsecured ratings for the Sultanate. The report highlighted that the Sultanate has managed to cut its debt by 27 percent in nominal terms during the period between 2022 and 2023.
Moreover, the Omani government has also achieved to reduce the Sultanate’s debt by a further 5.6 percent during the first seven months of 2024. The Sultanate’s debt reduction was accompanied by a spending restraint as the country’s overall expenditure witnessed a marginal y-o-y growth of 2 percent during 1H-2024.
GCC markets remain flattish
GCC equity markets witnessed mixed performance during August-2024 after markets in the region showed limited recovery from the steep decline at the start of the month. The 4 percent decline in the MSCI GCC Index seen at the start of the month was mainly led by concerns related to the global economy after the payroll data in the US indicated recessionary pressures, which would have had its impact on the rest of the key global economies.
However, most markets witnessed a quick recovery after comments from policymakers suggested a steeper rate cut path in the coming months with consensus estimates now showing at least three rate cuts by the end of the year by the US Fed. GCC markets were also affected by the escalation of regional geopolitical issues related to the war on Gaza, the confrontation in Lebanon and the attacks in the Red Sea.
The MSCI GCC index witnessed a marginal gain of 0.2 percent during the month reflecting themixed performance at the country level. Oman was the best performing market in the GCC during the month with a gain of 1.8 percent that came after two consecutive months of decline.
Dubai was next with a gain of 1.3 percent followed by Qatar and Saudi with minimal gains. Themarginal gain during August-2024 provided little support to the YTD-2024 performance of the GCC markets that still remained in the red at -1.2 percent for the regional index. However, the declines were mainly seen in Abu Dhabi and Qatari indices while the rest of the markets were in the green.
The sector performance chart for the month showed most sectors in the green during August-2024. F&B and Material were the only noticeable decliners during the month with declines of 3 percent and 1.4 percent, while the Pharma & Biotech index reported the biggest gains during the month (+14.5percent) followed by Telecom and Retailing sectors with gains of 8.1 percent and 4.6 percent, respectively.
