Saturday 18 / May / 2024
Muscat: Amid thin trading activity, Oman’s benchmark MSM30 Index retreated 0.07 per cent to close at 5,416.47 points. The MSM Shariah Index ended the session at 788.19 points, down by 0.13 per cent. Al Madina Takaful was the most active in terms of volume and Ooredoo led in terms of turnover. Up 9.24 per cent, Oman Orix Leasing was the top gainer while Oman National Engineering was the top loser, down 3.42 per cent.
A total number of 373 trades were executed on Monday, generating a turnover of OMR1.31 million with 6.29 million shares changing hands. Out of 34 traded securities, 6 advanced, 9 declined, and 19 remained unchanged. At the session close, GCC & Arab Investors were net buyers for OMR304,000 while Foreign Investors switched to net sellers for OMR255,000 followed by Omani Investors for OMR49,000 worth of shares.
Financial Index ended at 7,965.89 points, down 0.07 per cent. Oman Orix Leasing, Al Madina Investment and Bank Dhofar gained 9.24 per cent, 0.99 per cent and 0.87 per cent respectively. Al Sharqia Investments, Al Madina Investments, NBO and Bank Muscat declined 1.71 per cent, 1.52 per cent, 0.88 per cent and 0.50 per cent respectively.
Industrial Index was stable at 7,348.14 points, down 0.01 per cent. Galfar Engineering gained 1.27 per cent while Oman Flour Mills lost 0.43 per cent respectively.
Services Index retreated 0.22 per cent to finish at 2,766.83 points. Phoenix Power and Omantel increased 0.75 per cent and 0.39 per cent respectively. Oman National Engineering, Sembcorp Salalah, Al Jazeera Services and Ooredoo decreased 3.42 per cent, 2.08 per cent, 1.85 per cent and 0.79 per cent respectively.
Saudi shares gain
Most stock markets in the Gulf were sluggish in early trade on Monday, although Saudi Arabia edged up in response to a surge in oil prices after the Saudi and Russian oil ministers agreed output cuts should be extended until March 2018.
The Saudi index rose 0.3 per cent in the first half-hour, aided by petrochemicals, with Saudi Basic Industries gaining by the same margin.
But PetroRabigh, which had tumbled by its 10 per cent daily limit on Sunday after reporting a sharp widening of its quarterly loss, sank a further 6.1 per cent.
Real estate developer Dar Al Arkan added 2.4 per cent after saying its board had accepted the resignation of Abdulrehman Hamad Al Harkan as chief executive officer, effective on June 1, for personal reasons. It did not name a new CEO.
Dubai's index slipped 0.3 per cent with activity focusing on builder Arabtec, the second most heavily traded issue, and rights to subscribe to its capital increase .
The underlying stock surged 6.2 per cent to 0.81 dirham as the rights, which began trading on Monday and will continue through May 28, swung widely between 0.03 dirham and 0.199 dirham.
Since the rights allow the underlying stock to be bought at a price of 1.0 dirham, well above the stock's current market price, they may never be exercised. But the price of the rights is so low that some local investors see a good chance for short-term speculation with minimal downside.
Shuaa Capital dropped 4.0 per cent despite reporting that it had swung to a first-quarter profit from a year-earlier loss; total revenues shrank during the quarter.
Indexes in Abu Dhabi and Qatar were almost flat.
