Retail support props up Oman's share index

Muscat: Despite foreign selling in index heavyweight, active retail buying in trading names lifted the MSM30 Index to 5,793.33 points, up by 0.30 per cent. The MSM Sharia Index gained 0.14 per cent to close at 858.51 points. Bank Muscat was the most active in terms of volume as well as turnover. Galfar Engineering, up by 7.14 per cent, was top gainer while Al Jazeera Services was top loser, down by 4.23 per cent.
As many as 943 trades were executed on Wednesday, generating a turnover of OMR5.20 million with 23.9 million shares changing hands. Out of 45 traded securities, 21 advanced, six declined and 18 remained unchanged. Omani investors remained net buyers of OMR2.39 million, while foreign investors were net sellers of OMR2.36 million followed by GCC and Arab investors to the tune of OMR34,000 worth of shares.
Financial Index closed above the 8,000-mark at 8,014.40 points, up by 0.84 per cent. Al Madina Investment, Al Sharqia Investment, Al Madina Takaful, Oman & Emirates Holding and BankDhofar gained by 4.92 per cent, 2.19 per cent, 2.17 per cent, 2.16 per cent and 1.92 per cent, respectively. Bank Muscat and Muscat Finance declined by 2.60 per cent and 1.50 per cent, respectively.
Industrial Index advanced by 0.79 per cent to finish at 7,650.99 points. Galfar Engineering, Oman Fisheries, Oman Cables, Al Jazeera Steel and Gulf International Chemicals increased by 7.14 per cent, 3.96 per cent, 1.91 per cent, 0.75 per cent and 0.70 per cent, respectively. Al Anwar Ceramics, down by 1.92 per cent, was the only loser.
Services Index ended lower at 3,019.55 points, down by 0.11 per cent. Oman National Engineering, ACWA Power and OIFC gained 0.63 per cent, 0.56 per cent and 0.46 per cent, respectively. Al Jazeera Steel, Ooredoo and Oman Telecommunications Company declined by 4.23 per cent, 0.64 per cent and 0.35 per cent, respectively.
Sensex soars 486 points
A focus on fiscal discipline and clarity on FPI taxation as reflected in the Union Budget came as music to investors' ears, with the Sensex leaping nearly 486 points on Wednesday to close at an over 3-month high of 28,142.
Financial and realty stocks powered the show.
Markets welcomed the budgetary proposals of new fundinin public sector banks and keeping long-term (LTCG) and short-term capital gains tax (STCG) unchanged for the capital market.
Additionally, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley proposed that category I and II foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) should be exempted from taxation on indirect transfers, which made investors a happy lot.
Both key indices Sensex and Nifty reclaimed their key levels of 28,000 and 8,700 for the first time, scoring their biggest single-day gain since October 2016.
The Sensex, which kept moving in a tight range immediately after the Budget was presented in Parliament, started climbing and closed higher by 485.68 points, or 1.76 per cent, at 28,141.64. This is its highest closing since October 24 last year when it settled at 28,179.08. It had shot up about 504 points intra-day.
The broad-based Nifty was also on the upswing and rallied by 155.10 points, or 1.81 per cent, to settle at 8,716.40 after touching the day's high of 8,722.40 and a low of 8,537.50.
The rupee firming up 40 paise to end at 67.47 — a one and a half month high — helped pace the gains.
"No change in long-term capital gains tax on equities has lightened investors' fears on transaction cost. The budget has given a positive momentum in the market, the focus of which was to reduce fiscal deficit to 3.2 per cent of GDP in 2017-18. Infrastructure developments are welcomed by the investors," said Vinod Nair, Head of Research, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.
Meanwhile, Nikkei Markit India Manufacturing PMI in January rebounded from the demonetization downturn amid rising order books, production as well as buying levels and expansion in the sector by increasing to 50.4, from 49.6 in December.
Shares of state-run banks such as SBI, Union Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, PNB and Syndicate Bank hogged limelight and climbed by up to 5.64 per cent as the government announced infusion of new fund into public sector banks in the next fiscal.
Major gainers included Maruti Suzuki (4.69 per cent), M&M (4.64 per cent), ITC (4.51 per cent), ICICI Bank (4.40 per cent), GAIL (3.76 per cent) and Adani Ports (3.60 per cent). The mid-cap index rose 1.77 per cent and small-cap 1.68 per cent.
Asian shares ended mixed with upward bias while European markets were trading higher in their afternoon deals.