Oman shares continue to fall amid dull trading

Muscat: Shares on the Muscat bourse continued its fall amid lack of any trigger factor to prop up the sentiment. The MSM30 Index continued to witness low trading volumes and ended at 5,826.46 points, down by 0.21 per cent. The MSM Sharia Index increased by 0.16 per cent to close at 886.49 points. HSBC Bank Oman was the most active in terms of volume and turnover. Wednesday’s top gainer was Al Izz Bank, up by 1.72 per cent, while the top loser was Construction Materials, with a loss of 3.13 per cent.
As many as 414 trades were executed on Wednesday, generating turnover of OMR1.89 million with 11.9 million shares changing hands. Out of 38 traded securities, 10 advanced, eight declined and 20 remained unchanged. Omani investors remained net buyers for OMR165,000 while GCC and Arab investors were net sellers for OMR102,000 followed by foreign investors for OMR63,000 worth of shares.
Financial Index declined by 0.32 per cent to close at 7,378.42 points. Al Izz Bank, Oman & Emirates Holding, Al Madina Takaful, Bank Nizwa and Global Financial Investment gained 1.72 per cent, 1.45 per cent, 1.37 per cent, 1.33 per cent and 0.74 per cent, respectively. Ahli Bank, Oman United Insurance, Bank Sohar and HSBC Bank declined by 1.74 per cent, 1.17 per cent, 1.13 per cent and 0.98 per cent, respectively.
Industrial Index ended at 7,341.29 points, up by 0.12 per cent. Oman Fisheries, Al Maha Ceramics and Galfar Engineering increased by 1.67 per cent, 1.33 per cent and 0.90 per cent, respectively. Construction Materials and Al Hassan Engineering declined by 3.13 per cent and 1.16 per cent, respectively.
Services Index stayed flat at 3,253.52 points. National Gas, up by 0.76 per cent, was the only sector gainer. Sohar Power and Phoenix Power declined by 0.66 per cent and 0.65 per cent, respectively.