Muscat bourse loses 91 points in May, trading volume drops to OMR58m

Muscat: Muscat bourse lost 91 points to close 5,421 points in May due to weak market sentiment. The financial performance of listed companies on the Muscat bourse was mixed.
The MSM main index dropped 361 points in the first five months of 2017. Investor sentiment was affected during the year by several local and international factors, including the continued fluctuation of oil prices and the increase in corporate income tax from 12 per cent to 15 per cent, in addition to increasing fees for several government services, which all fuel investors' concerns about the decline in financial results and the drop in net profits of listed companies.
The financial results of the six commercial banks listed on MSM showed an improvement in performance in the first quarter of 2017, with total net profit increasing to OMR87.4 million compared to OMR85.9 million in the corresponding period of 2016. They also recorded growth in their assets, customers' deposits, loan portfolios and finance they own. The results of banks are one of the indicators that affect investor decisions.
However, the decline in the financial results of a number of industrial companies had a negative impact on investors, and pushed the industrial sector index to record the highest losses, down by 157 points, doubling the losses suffered in April. Other sectoral indices recorded a decline, with the exception of the financial sector index, which rose by about 6 points while the service sector index fell 49 points and the Sharia index lost 6 points.
This performance came in the midst of weakness in the volume of daily trading, which amounted to OMR2.5 million, compared to OMR3.6 million in April 2017. The value of trading last month fell to OMR58 million, the lowest monthly volume so far this year compared to OMR71.4 million in April.
Shares of 20 companies rose last month, compared to a drop in the shares of 42 companies and 17 companies maintained the same levels. The share of Oman Oryx Leasing Company recorded the biggest gain to close at 166 baisas, up by 40.6 per cent. The share of Al Madinah Takaful rose 26.3 per cent to close at 120 baisas and Alizz Bank shares rose from 68 baisas to 82 baisas, up by 20.5 per cent.
The shares of Oman Textile Holding topped the losers, closing at 570 baisas, down by 24.2 per cent. Oman National Engineering fell 11.5 per cent to close at 130 baisas. Gulf Investment Services dropped by 11.3 per cent to close at 94 baisas.