Muscat bourse drops on dull trading

Muscat: Barring a special deal of 9.75 per cent of Phoenix Power worth OMR17.8 million, it was dull trading activity on the Muscat bourse and the MSM 30 Index closed at 5,748.61 points, down 0.33 per cent. The seller of Phoenix Power was Qatar Electricity & Water and the buyer was a regional institution. The MSM Shariah Index declined 0.58 per cent to close at 875.60 points.
Port Services was the most active in terms of volume and turnover. Tuesday’s top gainer was Oman Cables, up 2.68 per cent, while Port Services which lost the most, declined by 5.51 per cent.
As many as 454 trades were executed on Tuesday, generating a turnover of OMR1.9 million with 9.7 million shares changing hands. Out of 44 traded securities, 9 advanced, 13 declined and 22 remained unchanged. Arab and GCC investors were net buyers to the tune of 220,000 worth of shares, while Omani investors, who switched to be net sellers, sold stocks amounting to OMR138,000, followed by foreign investors at OMR82,000.
Financial Index ended at 7,402.52 points, down 0.25 per cent. HSBC Bank and United Finance gained 1.01 per cent and 0.63 per cent respectively. Al Sharqia Investment, Gulf Investment Services, Oman & Emirates, Al Madina Investment and Al Madina Takaful decreased 3.85 per cent, 3.36 per cent, 2.14 per cent, 1.67 per cent and 1.41 per cent respectively.
Industrial Index declined 0.36 per cent to close at 7,420.54 points. Al Anwar Ceramics, Al Hassan Engineering, Oman Cement and Al Maha Ceramics had losses of 2.43 per cent, 1.37 per cent, 0.88 per cent and 0.82 per cent respectively.
Services Index closed at 3,121.06 points, down 0.29 per cent. OIFC, up 0.51 per cent was only gainer. Al Jazeera Services, Ooredoo, Omantel, Al Maha Petroleum and Phoenix Power lost 1.95 per cent, 1.12 per cent, 0.95 per cent, 0.69 per cent and 0.68 per cent respectively.