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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

MSM market cap crosses RO 18 billion in 2018

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MUSCAT, MAY 18 - The market capitalisation of companies listed on the Muscat Securities Market (MSM) climbed 1.26 per cent to reach RO 18.176 billion in 2018, up from RO 17.951 billion during the previous year, the Omani bourse stated in its newly published 2018 Annual Report. This uptick in the market value was among a handful of bright spots in a year that saw the benchmark MSM-30 Index oscillating wildly in tandem with global highs and lows. The Index closed the year at 4,323.74 points, plummeting by 775.54 points (-15.21 per cent) compared to 2017 figures. It reached its highest levels during the year when it closed at 5,123.22 points on January 7, 2018, but also plunged to its lowest level of 4,312.94 points on December 25, 2018. The Sharia-compliant index also declined 17.06 per cent to close at 591.90 points compared to 713.63 points at the end of 2017.


Trading value slumped by 23.17 per cent to reach RO 763 million during 2018 versus figures for the previous year. Consequently, the average daily trading declined to RO 3.90 million against RO 4.02 million during 2017.  Summing up the market’s performance in 2018, Dr Ashraf bin Nabhan al Nabhani, Chairman of the Board of Directors, said: “The performance of Muscat Securities Market has been badly affected by the negative impact of the performance of global economy in 2018 and the unstable oil prices, which began to decline in mid-2014 and negatively affected the performance of the Sultanate’s macro economy. Despite the remarkable improvement of the average oil prices in 2018 compared to the previous three years, it did not have a positive impact on the market.”


For its part, the Muscat Securities Market continues to “exert very possible effort to achieve its objectives” in strengthening the stock market, the Chairman stated. Notable is the ongoing endeavour to transform the MSM into a commercial company “in order to be able to work more flexibly and in a commercial manner, in line with the global model in this field and to keep pace with the developments taking place in the securities industry and in securities markets”, he stressed.


The number of listed securities totaled 143 during the year, of which 110 were listed joint stock companies while the remaining 33 were in the form of bonds. Around 115 securities were traded in 2018, the prices of 27 of which rose, 74 fell and 14 remained stable, according to the Annual Report.


Reflecting subdued market trends during the year, investments by Omanis decreased to RO 664 million or 87.1 per cent of the total activity on the MSM, compared to RO 871 million (87.73 per cent) during the previous year. Investments by non-Omani also dipped to RO 98.74 million (12.95 per cent) compared to RO 121 million (12.15 per cent) during the previous year. On the flip side, the share of Omanis in sales reached RO 502 million (66 per cent), while that of non-Omanis amounted to RO 261 million (34 per cent).


Significantly, Omanis hold 73.92 per cent of the equity in listed joint stock companies, while ownership by non-Omanis is 26.08 per cent — divided between Gulf nationals (11.74 per cent) and non-Gulf investors (14.34 per cent).


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