Oman stocks fall on foreign selling in banking shares

Muscat: Foreign selling in banking sector weighed on the MSM30 Index which closed at 5,784.47 points, down 0.40 per cent. The MSM Sharia Index closed at 884.15 points, down 0.16 per cent. HSBC Bank was the most active in terms of volume while Bank Sohar led in terms of turnover. Monday’s top gainer was Phoenix Power, up 1.28 per cent while Construction Materials was the top loser, down 3.23 per cent.
A total number of 457 trades were executed on Monday, generating turnover of OMR1.56 million with 9.2 million shares changing hands. Out of 38 traded securities, five advanced, 17 declined and 16 remained unchanged. At the session close, Omani investors remained net buyers for OMR146,000 followed by GCC & Arab Investors for OMR12,000 while foreign investors were net sellers for OMR158,000 worth of shares.
Financial Index retreated 0.71 per cent to close at 7,275.80 points. NBO, Al Anwar Holding, Bank Dhofar, HSBC Bank and Al Sharqia Investments declined 2.01 per cent, 1.62 per cent, 1.29 per cent, 1.00 per cent and 0.74 per cent respectively.
Industrial Index closed at 7,298.44 points, down 0.38 per cent. Voltamp Energy, up 0.48 per cent, was the only sector gainer. Construction Materials, Al Hassan Engineering, Al Anwar Ceramics, Oman Fisheries and National Aluminium decreased 3.23 per cent, 2.38 per cent, 1.89 per cent, 1.64 per cent and 1.60 per cent respectively.
Services Index was stable at 3,245.80 points, up 0.02 per cent. Phoenix Power, National Gas and Al Jazeera Services increased 1.28 per cent, 0.77 per cent and 0.45 per cent respectively. Sohar Power declined 0.66 per cent to close at OMR0.300.