Purchases by Local investment rise by 65.1% on Muscat Stock Exchange

Muscat: Local investment institutions increased their purchases at the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) in last week’s trading to absorb foreign selling and individual sales at a time when stock prices recorded further declines and presented attractive opportunities for long-term investment portfolios.

41 securities recorded a decline in trading last week, including a number of banks, telecommunications and energy companies, in addition to leading industrial companies.

These declines came before the end of the fiscal year for most public joint-stock companies listed on the Muscat Stock Exchange, which prompted local investment institutions to increase their purchases of shares amid expectations of an improvement in the financial performance of most companies listed on the stock exchange.

Purchases by local investment institutions last week amounted to OMR 17.9 million, accounting for 65.1 percent of the total trading value, compared to sales worth OMR 6.7 million, representing 24.6 percent of the total trading value. The declines witnessed by stocks last week led to a decline in the main index and sectoral indices of the stock exchange.

The main index recorded a decline of about 46 points and closed at 4563 points, the financial sector index decreased by 30 points, the industrial sector index recorded a decline of 46 points, the services sector index lost about 20 points, and the Sharia index fell to 408 points, recording a decline of 10 points.

On the other hand, 21 securities recorded an increase during the past week, most notably Dhofar Food and Investment, Al Madina Investment Holding, Oman Fisheries, Aman Real Estate Investment Fund, and Bank Sohar International. Last week’s trading rose to 27.5 million Omani riyals compared to 11.4 million Omani riyals in the previous week, in which trading was limited to 3 days.

The number of executed deals last week also rose to 7,829 deals compared to 4,382 deals in the previous week. OQ Exploration and Production topped the most traded companies in terms of trading value with OMR 12.6 million, representing about 46 percent of the total trading value.

OQ Gas Networks came in second place with OMR 3.2 million, representing OMR 11.7 million, while Ominvest’s unsecured secondary mudaraba sukuk came in third place with OMR 2.4 million, representing 8.7 percent of the total trading value. Investors focused on OQ Exploration and Production shares after they fell to attractive levels for investment portfolios.

The share price ranged between 354 and 352 baisas during last week’s trading, with 3,257 transactions executed. It closed at 352 baisas, down one baisa during the week, thus approaching the subscription price for individual Omani investors, which is 351 baisas.

The market value of the Muscat Stock Exchange rose at the end of last week’s trading to 27 billion and 393 million Omani riyals, recording gains of 16.7 million Omani riyals, benefiting from the rise in the market value of closed companies that are not traded on the floor to 10 billion and 930 million Omani riyals, recording weekly gains of about 100 million Omani riyals, while public joint-stock companies recorded a decline in their market value, affected by the decline in stock prices.