Despite geopolitical tensions, the MSM30 closed the week slightly higher. Notable deals in terms of size and speculative transactions were noted at the same time.
The MSM30 ended the week up by 0.25 per cent at 3918.49. All sub-indices closed up except Services which was down 0.42 per cent. The Financial Index closed up by 1.54 per cent while Industrial Index closed higher by 0.48 per cent. The MSM Shariah Index closed up by 0.01 per cent w-o-w.
Bank Sohar announced rights issue of 381m shares at a price of RO 0.107 per share. Record date for the rights entitlements is June 26, 2019, and rights issue subscription period is between July 7 to July 21, 2019.
The board of directors of Alizz Islamic Bank announced that they have in principally approved to increase the bank’s capital to meet regulatory requirements and business needs and have also considered the offer made by one its major shareholders to take part in this process — subject to obtaining necessary approvals. The board also instructed the management to take necessary steps to extend the offer to other major shareholders to provide equal opportunity to participate in the capital increase process. The board of directors also noted the progress on the potential merger with the Oman Arab Bank SAOC and agreed to continue discussion with the Oman Arab Bank on the terms and conditions.
The draft law on Bankruptcy and Insolvency came up for discussion at the 10th regular session of the State Council last week. The law aims to bring a legislative framework to provide a positive environment to attract investments in the Sultanate. The draft law contains 242 articles, divided into four chapters: restructuring, reconciliation, bankruptcy, conditions and procedures for the sale and distribution of assets, final provisions, rehabilitation and penalties. In addition, it includes the introductory section dealing with definitions and general provisions. This law attempts to discover the real issue behind the breakdown of the business, in order to make sure that there are no hidden factors or cheating where the businessman attempts to trick the court and take advantage of the rights of those he is indebted to. The law attempts to investigate every factor in order to make sure that the bankruptcy is real.
To support the development of the fisheries sector and create 4,000 jobs by 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MoAF) has launched a program to induct 270 high-tech fishing vessels. The ministry has called on fishermen to participate in the project as investors or as licensees. Fitted with latest navigation, safety and resource location equipment, these boats are designed to enhance the catch as they will be able to operate far from the coastline. High-tech resource location hardware will enable the vessel to pinpoint high-value fish species. These vessels will stay connected with land or sea-based communication network. The project is expected to boost investment in fish processing and value-added industries while supporting the creation of direct and indirect employment opportunities across fish processing, logistics and related sectors.
Oman Education Sector profit — in MSM —declined 55 per cent YoY during 9M19 to RO 1.25m compared to RO 2.81m.
Profitability during 3M19 declined by 41 per cent YoY.
Majan College 9M (Sept-May), profitability dropped by 9.6 per cent YoY to RO 1.18m compared to RO 1.30m in same period last year. OETI (Sept-Mar), profitability dropped by 95 per cent YoY to RO 74k compared to RO 1.50m in same period last year.
Among GCC markets, Qatar Exchange topped the gainers and was up 1.64 per cent followed by Abu Dhabi at 1.63 per cent, while Kuwait was the only decliner at 0.61 per cent.
GCC 2018 net foreign direct investment was reported at negative $26.7bn in 2018. Oman witnessed highest Net FDI flows of $3.62bn.
In terms of Inflows alone, UAE was the highest with inflows of $10.38bn. The lowest inflow was in Qatar, as the total inflows was negative at $2bn
In terms of Outflows alone, KSA was the highest with outflows at $21.2bn. The lowest outflow was in Bahrain at only $111m.
The US Federal Reserve met last week. In a decision closely watched by financial market participants across the world, clamouring for multiple cuts, central bank officials on the Federal Open Market Committee voted 9-1 to keep the benchmark rate in a target range of 2.25 per cent to 2.5 per cent, where it has been since December 2018. As expected the Fed did not surprise investors with the decision to maintain rates, but the split vote tells us that a cut is on the way and it’s increasingly likely that it will happen before the end of 3Q19, as bond markets have been hoping, looking at the prevailing future interest rates.
Global oil supply increased slightly by 0.04 mb/d m-o-m to average 98.26 mb/d in May 2019, compared with the previous month. An increase in non-Opec supply (including Opec NGLs) of 0.27 mb/d in May, compared with the previous month, was mainly driven by the US, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Canada and the UK. Total Opec preliminary crude oil production averaged 29.88 mb/d in May, lower by 236 tb/d m-o-m. Crude oil output decreased mostly in Iran, I.R., Nigeria, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, while production increased in Iraq, Angola and Gabon. [Credit: U-Capital]
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