Oman share index ends marginally lower

Muscat: Dividend adjustment in telecom stocks weighed on the MSM30 Index, which closed at 5,537.74 points, down 0.23 per cent. The MSM Sharia Index ended at 840.51 points, down 0.36 per cent. Al Madina Investment was the most active in terms of volume while Bank Muscat led in terms of turnover. The top gainer on Sunday was Al Madina Takaful, up 4.76 per cent, while the top loser was Omantel, down 3.87 per cent after dividend adjustment.
A total number of 614 trades were executed on Sunday, generating turnover of OMR1.72 million with 10.37 million shares changing hands. Out of 38 traded securities, 12 advanced, 9 declined and 17 remained unchanged. At the session close, Omani investors were net buyers for OMR95,000 while Foreign investors were net sellers for OMR94,000 followed by GCC & Arab investors for OMR1,000 worth of shares.
Financial Index advanced 0.46 per cent to finish at 7,870.54 points. Al Madina Takaful, NBO, Gulf Investment Services, HSBC Bank and Al Anwar Holding gained 4.76 per cent, 2.23 per cent, 1.74 per cent, 1.60 per cent and 0.99 per cent respectively. Bank Nizwa and Bank Muscat declined 1.06 per cent and 0.52 per cent respectively.
Industrial Index ended at 7,819.41 points, up 0.24 per cent. National Aluminium, Al Anwar Ceramics, Galfar Engineering and Oman Fisheries increased 2.94 per cent, 1.32 per cent, 1.19 per cent and 0.56 per cent respectively. Al Hassan Engineering, Raysut Cement, Al Jazeera Steel and Gulf International Chemicals decreased 1.85 per cent, 0.74 per cent, 0.45 per cent and 0.39 per cent respectively.
Services Index closed at 2,879.35 points, down 0.21 per cent. Al Batinah Power and OIFC gained 1.67 per cent and 1.43 per cent respectively. Port Services and Omantel lost 3.87 per cent and 1.28 per cent respectively.
Egypt's foreign debt jumps
Egypt's foreign debt jumped 40.8 per cent year-on-year to $67.32 billion in December, Central Bank figures showed.
Egypt has been negotiating billions of dollars in aid from various lenders to help revive an economy hit by political upheaval since a 2011 revolt, and to ease a dollar shortage that has crippled imports and drove away foreign investors.
Egypt has received the first tranche of a three-year $12 billion loan deal with the IMF and is expecting to receive the second tranche soon. The second tranche of a $3 billion loan from the World Bank was disbursed to Egypt last month.
The central bank said domestic debt rose 28.9 per cent to $3.05 billion.