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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

MSM index retreats for fifth month in a row

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MUSCAT: The main index of the Muscat Securities Market (MSM) lost 235 points in July, retreating for the fifth month in a row.


The index ended last month trading at 4,336 points, bringing the losses this year to 762 points.


The index did not receive the expected support from the financial results of the first half of this year announced in July. The prices of 48 companies fell, 11 companies rose and 17 companies remained stable.


These transactions came at a time when the national economy showed during the last months of this year a positive performance.


The gross domestic product in current prices in the first quarter of this year rose to more than RO 7 billion, compared to RO 6.6 billion in the same period last year, with a growth of 6.5 per cent. The GDP of petroleum activities increased by 16.5 per cent to RO 2.3 billion.


The GDP of non-oil activities grew by 2 per cent to RO 4.9 billion.


The Sultanate’s revenues in the first five months of this year rose to about RO 4.1 billion, with a growth of 23.2 per cent, compared to the first quarter of last year.


The Sultanate also reduced its expenditure to reach RO 5.1 billion, compared to RO 5.3 billion in the same period last year, which contributed to reducing the deficit by 46.2 per cent to reach RO 1.1 billion by the end of last May.


However, this positive performance was not reflected in the performance of MSM, and the prices of shares continued to decline.


All sectoral indices closed down, and the index of the industry sector showed the highest decline by 8.1 per cent. The index lost in July 494 points and closed at 5,605 points.


The Sharia market index declined by 7 per cent, the financial sector index by 4.5 per cent and the services sector index by 3.9 per cent.


In July, MSM witnessed a turnover of RO 56.9 million, compared to RO 36 million in June.


The number of executed transactions rose to 8962 from 6341 in June.


Dhofar Tourism Company accounted for 41.9 per cent of the total value of the traded shares, at a total value of RO 23.8 million.


Bank Muscat ranked second with RO 8.9 million, accounting for 15.7 per cent of total trading value.


Al Madinah Takaful came third with a traded value of RO 2.8 million. ACWA Power Barka was the best performer, closing at 780 baisas, up by 4.8 per cent. The National Aluminium Products Company gained 3.8 per cent to close at 378 baisas. — ONA


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