Interest in financials drive Oman shares higher

Muscat: Local and regional interest in financials drove the MSM30 Index to 5,848.89 points, posting gain of 0.49 per cent. The MSM Sharia Index closed at 896.77 points, up 0.13 per cent. Bank Muscat was the most active in terms of volume as well as turnover. Al Batinah Development, up 8.75 per cent, was Tuesday’s top gainer while with a loss of 3.13 per cent, Construction Materials was the top loser.
A total number of 867 trades were executed on Tuesday, generating turnover of OMR3.3 million with 10.9 million shares changing hands. Out of 38 traded securities, 14 advanced, six declined and 18 remained unchanged. At the session close, GCC & Arab Investors were net buyers for OMR265,000 followed by Omani investors for OMR144,000 while foreign investors switched to net sellers for OMR409,000 worth of shares.
Financial Index advanced 0.62 per cent to close at 7,383.62 points. Al Batinah Development, Oman United Insurance, Bank Sohar, NBO and Al Sharqia Investments gained 8.75 per cent, 4.48 per cent, 2.29 per cent, 2.08 per cent and 2.07 per cent respectively. Takaful Oman and Oman & Emirates Holding declined 1.64 per cent and 1.45 per cent respectively.
Industrial Index retreated 0.25 per cent to end at 7,465.06 points. Raysut Cement, Gulf International Chemicals and Al Jazeera Steel gained 2.24 per cent, 0.78 per cent and 0.45 per cent respectively. Construction Materials, Al Anwar Ceramics, Galfar Engineering and Al Hassan Engineering declined 3.13 per cent, 2.78 per cent, 2.73 per cent and 2.50 per cent respectively.
Services Index ended positively at 3,258.77 points, up 0.26 per cent. National Gas, Omantel, Renaissance Services and OIFC increased 2.34 per cent, 0.90 per cent, 0.68 per cent and 0.51 per cent respectively.