MSM index goes up for second consecutive week

Muscat: The index of Muscat Securities Market (MSM) kept rising for the second week, maintaining last week’s 1.9 per cent upward performance.
Last week, MSM 30 Index added 67 points and closed at 3539 points amid overall improvement across various sectors. The financial sector’s index gained 65 points, the industry sector 39 points and the services sector 34 points.
Market value of enlisted companies registered gains estimated at OMR69.1 million after closing at OMR18.23 billion on Thursday’s trading session.
The rates of 28 companies went up against a decline in prices of 19 companies, while the prices of 15 other companies remained unchanged. The share of Oman National Engineering and Investment Company fared as the best, rising by 17 per cent and closing at 110bz, while the share of Bank Dhofar rose 16.6 per cent (105bz) and the share of Gulf International Chemicals rose by 12.5 per cent (99bz).
Al Hassan Engineering’s share topped the list of losing shares as it closed at 18bz points, sliding by 14.2 per cent, followed by Oman Flour Mills share (down by 9.6 per cent to 508bz) and United Energy’s share (down by 9.6 per cent to 265bz).
Last week saw a 65 per cent boost in number of concluded deals, which jumped to 3,029 from previous week’s 1,835 deals. The value of trading also rose by OMR6.6 million against OMR3.8 million in the previous week.
Bank Muscat occupied 17.4 per cent of trading value after its shares garnered OMR1.151 million, followed by Omantel’s shares (OMR948,000) and Al Anwar Ceramics’ shares (OMR721,000).
Last week, local individual investors had the upper hand as their purchases occupied 42.5 per cent of the value of trading, while the value of purchases of funds and local investment bodies constituted 30.1 per cent of the value of trading.
The value of local purchases (individuals and establishments) stood at OMR4.8 million, constituting 72.6 per cent of the total value of trading, while local sales’ value stood at OMR4.5 million, constituting 68.2 per cent of the total value of trading.