MSX set for best performance in 2024

Muscat: Some financial studies expected that the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) would record the best performance in 2024 compared to the performance in 2023, and that the general index of the stock exchange would rise by 15 percent.

Mustafa Ahmed Salman, United Securities’ Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, explained that the expected recovery of the stock exchange is due to the expected IPOs and the transformation made by the Oman Investment Authority, represented by offering more of its subsidiaries for public subscription and implementing the financial sustainability program to stimulate the local economy and support the stock exchange and optimism. Strong prospects for the growth of the Omani economy in the coming period.

He pointed out that the Muscat Stock Exchange has launched several initiatives, most notably the “liquidity provider” and the “market maker,” in addition to a project in its final stages, which is “lending and borrowing stocks.”

Salman said that the stock market witnessed fluctuations between rise and fall in 2023, recording losses approaching 7 percent at the end of the year, driven by a decline in various sectors, led by the industry, which declined by 17 percent, then the banking sector by 6 percent and the services sector by 3.7 percent.

He added that this is due to the continued monetary tightening policy in the United States of America, which was reflected in the rise in interest rates in the region and the world, which reduced investors’ interest in stocks, as well as geopolitical tensions in the region and the events in the Gaza Strip.