Monday 02 / December / 2024
Muscat: Local investment institutions increased their purchases at the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) in the 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.
About 41 securities recorded a decline in trading duringthe 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 during the week amounted to OMR17.9 million, accounting for 65.1 percent of the total trading value, compared to sales worth OMR6.7 million, representing 24.6 percent of the total trading value.
The declines witnessed by stocks during the 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 4,563 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.
During the week, trading rose to OMR27.5 million compared to OMR11.4 million Omani riyals in the previous week, in which trading was limited to 3 days. The number of deals executed during the week also rose to 7,829 compared to 4,382 deals in the previous week.
OQ Exploration and Production topped the most traded companies in terms of trading value with OMR12.6 million, representing about 46 percent of the total trading value. OQ Gas Networks came in second place with OMR3.2 million, representing OMR11.7 million, while Ominvest’s unsecured secondary mudaraba sukuk came in third place with OMR2.4 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 capitalisation of the Muscat Stock Exchange rose at the end of the week’s trading to OMR27.39 billion, recording gains of OMR16.7 million, benefiting from the rise in the market value of closed companies that are not traded on the floor to OMR10.93 billion, recording weekly gains of about OMR100 million, while public joint-stock companies recorded a decline in their market value, affected by the decline in stock prices.
