Muscat bourse recovers on support at lower levels

Muscat: Recovery in heavyweight banking stocks drove the MSM 30 Index to 5,307.99 points, up by 0.33 per cent. The MSM Sharia Index closed at 825.13 points, down by 0.12 per cent.
Bank Muscat was the most active in terms of volume as well as turnover. The top gainer was Bank Muscat, up 1.98 per cent, while Al Hassan Engineering, which fell by 4.41 per cent, was the top loser.
As many as 695 trades were executed on Sunday, generating turnover of OMR3.1 million with 10.5 million shares changing hands. Out of 33 traded securities, six advanced, 10 declined and 17 remained unchanged. Omani investors remained net buyers for OMR874,000 followed by GCC and Arab investors for OMR198,000 while foreign investors were net sellers for OMR1.07 million worth of shares.
Financial Index bounced back to 6,500.62 points, up by 0.52 per cent. Bank Muscat, Ominvest, Al Anwar Holding, Ahli Bank and HSBC Bank gained by 1.98 per cent, 1.69 per cent, 1.19 per cent, 1.17 per cent and 1.04 per cent, respectively. Al Madina Takaful, Bank Nizwa, Al Batinah Development and NBO declinedby 2.82 per cent, 1.49 per cent, 1.41 per cent and 0.75 per cent, respectively.
Industrial Index was stable at 6,573.54 points, down by 0.03 per cent. Gulf International Chemicals, up by 0.67 per cent, was the only sector gainer. Al Hassan Engineering and Al Jazeera Steel declined by 4.41 per cent and 1.47 per cent, respectively.
Services Index closed negatively at 3,050.45 points, down by 0.09 per cent. Renaissance Services, OIFC, Oman Telecommunications Company and Sembcorp Salalah receded by 0.57 per cent, 0.51 per cent, 0.32 per cent and 0.20 per cent, respectively.