Oman shares react on selling pressure

Business Tuesday 18/July/2017 16:51 PM
By: Times News Service
Oman shares react on selling pressure

Muscat: Shares on the Muscat bourse reacted on selling pressure. The MSM30 Index closed on a negative note at 5,063.85 points, down by 0.19 per cent. The MSM Sharia Index edged down by 0.08 per cent to end at 755.44 points. Oman Fisheries was the most active in terms of volume while Oman Telecommunications Company (Omantel) led in terms of turnover. Oman Fisheries remained the top gainer, up by 6.72 per cent, while the top loser was Salalah Port Services with a loss of 4.43 per cent.
During the session, a total of 665 trades were executed, generating turnover of OMR2.60 million with more than 12.2 million shares changing hands. Out of 32 traded securities, 14 advanced, 8 declined, and 10 remained unchanged. Omani investors were net buyers for OMR276,000 followed by GCC and Arab investors for OMR78,000 while foreign investors were net sellers for OMR354,000 worth of shares.
Financial Index gained 0.26 per cent to close at 7,600.00 points. Al Sharqia Investments, Al Madina Investments, Gulf Investment Services, Al Anwar Holding and Muscat Finance gained 4.76 per cent, 4.62 per cent, 2.53 per cent, 1.99 per cent and 1.72 per cent, respectively. Oman United Insurance, Bank Nizwa and Bank Muscat declined by 1.75 per cent, 1.05 per cent and 0.56 per cent, respectively.
Industrial Index ended positively at 6,914.10 points, up by 0.59 per cent. Oman Fisheries, Al Anwar Ceramics, Galfar Engineering and Gulf International Chemicals increased by 6.72 per cent, 4.13 per cent, 1.33 per cent and 0.93 per cent, respectively. Al Jazeera Steel, down by 4.03 per cent, was the only sector loser.
Services Index declined by 0.26 per cent to close at 2,536.99 points. Oman National Engineering, Phoenix Power and Al Jazeera Services gained 1.29 per cent, 0.81 per cent and 0.65 per cent, respectively. Salalah Port Services, Ooredoo, OIFC and Omantel declined by 4.43 per cent, 1.76 per cent, 1.20 per cent and 0.87 per cent, respectively.
Indian shares slide
Retreating from its record high hit in the previous session, the BSE Sensex on Tuesday sank about 364 points to post its biggest single-day plunge in eight months, dragged by FMCG giant ITC whose shares fell nearly 13 per cent due to increased levies on cigarettes.
The NSE Nifty also cracked about 89 points to slip below the psychological 9,900-mark.
The market sentiment was also impacted by mixed global cues as setbacks for a healthcare overhaul in the US raiseddoubts over prospects for a range of reforms backed by President Donald Trump.
"GST cess on cigarettes dented Nifty's surge, while global markets and the uncertainties prevailing around the earnings season kept the domestic investors cautious today. However, strength in rupee and recovery in the PSU bank stocks amidst NPA resolution hopes, shall keep 10k aspirations alive," Anand James, Chief Market Strategist, Geojit Financial Services, said.
The 30-share Sensex, after opening lower at 31,775.54, reached an intra-day high of 31,911.61. The index, however, slipped as the day progressed and touched a low of 31,626.44 during the day. It finally settled at 31,710.99, down 363.79 points, or 1.13 per cent, from Monday's close.
This is the Sensex's biggest single day fall since November 21 when it had lost 385.10 points.
The index had closed at record high of 32,074.78 points after scaling all-time intra-day high of 32,131.92 points in Monday's trade.
The Nifty opened lower on Tuesday at 9,832.70. After touching an intra-day high of 9,885.35, the index headed south to touch a low of 9,792.05, before finally settling at 9,827.15, down by 88.80 points, or 0.90 per cent.
Besides cigarette makers, other laggards were Reliance Industries, SBI, Power Grid, HDFC Ltd, NTPC, ICICI Bank, Airtel, Kotak Bank and M&M, falling up to 2.03 per cent.
Among the gainers, Asian Paint led the Sensex pack by climbing 1.82 per cent, followed by Sun Pharma 1.18 per cent, Axis Bank 1.18 per cent, ONGC 1.06 per cent, Hero MotoCorp 0.83 per cent, Dr Reddy's 0.83 per cent and Tata Steel 0.71 per cent.
Overseas, European stocks were trading lower as oil and financial stocks declined. Key indices like France and Germany dropped by 0.24 per cent to 0.55 per cent while UK's FTSE was quoted higher by 0.06 per cent.
In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei fell 0.59 per cent, while Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.35 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng up 0.21 per cent.