Saturday 06 / June / 2026
Muscat: Banks recorded a positive performance in trading during the week on the Muscat Stock Exchange, with the shares of the National Bank of Oman (NBO), Oman Arab Bank and Ahli Bank rising.
These increases were reflected in the financial sector index, which recorded an increase of 83 points and closed at 12,936 points. The sectoral index also benefited from the rise in the shares of a number of investment and finance companies.
The National Bank of Oman's shares rose by 10 percent and closed at 495 baisa, Oman Arab Bank's shares rose by 3.2 percent and closed at 223 baisa, and Ahli Bank's shares rose by about 3.2 percent and closed at 194 baisa.
The financial sector index sample also witnessed a number of other increases that were reflected in the index, with the rise of shares of Al Anwar Investments, United Finance and International Financial Investments.
The main index of the Muscat Stock Exchange recorded a decline of 117 points during the week and closed at 7,657 points. The industrial sector index declined by 47 points, the services sector index declined by 42 points, and the Sharia index recorded a decline of 9 points.
The Muscat Stock Exchange was also affected by investors' selling trend, with the Oman India Fertilizer Company announcing that it will offer 25 percent of its shares for public subscription in the coming weeks, pending approval of the prospectus by the Financial Services Authority (FSA).
During the week, the stock exchange witnessed a decline in the prices of 50 securities, compared to 21 securities whose prices rose and 20 securities that remained unchanged at their previous levels, with sales by non-Omani investors increasing to constitute 16 percent of the total trading value, compared to purchases of 12.2 percent of the trades.
The declines witnessed by the Muscat Stock Exchange in the week pushed the total market capitalisation of the exchange down to OMR36.74 billion, recording weekly losses of OMR378.5 million.
Trading data issued by the Muscat Stock Exchange indicated a decline in the daily trading rate during the week to about OMR35 million, compared to OMR51.6 million in the week before it. The total value of trading during the week amounted to OMR174.9 million, compared to OMR103.2 million in the previous week. The stock exchange closed for three days during the Eid Al Adha holiday.
During the week, the Muscat Stock Exchange witnessed the execution of more than 25,000 transactions, including 5,667 in OQ Basic Industries, 4,379 transactions in OQ Gas Networks, 3,582 transactions in Bank Sohar International shares and 3,391 transactions in Bank Muscat shares.
OQ Basic Industries topped the list of most traded companies in terms of trading valued at OMR49.2 million, accounting for 28.1 percent of the total trading value. Bank Muscat came in second with trading valued at OMR24.4 million, Bank Sohar International came in third with trading valued at OMR22.2 million, OQ Exploration and Production came in fourth with trading valued at OMR21.8 million, and OQ Gas Networks came in fifth with trading valued at OMR20.8 million, representing 11.9 percent of the total trading value.
In company news, the week saw the cancellation of the listing of Majan Glass Company on the Muscat Stock Exchange as a public shareholding company after it was transformed into a single-person company with a capital of OMR4.2 million, according to the decision of the Extraordinary General Assembly held last March.
The National Biscuit Manufacturing Company announced that the company’s Board of Directors approved the audited annual financial results for the fiscal year ending March 31, noting that the Board recommended distributing cash dividends of 600 baisa per share, and the recommendation will be presented to the Annual General Meeting to be held this month.
