Muscat – The Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) continued its winning streak for the third consecutive month during August.

The MSX30 index gained 1.2 per cent during the month to close at 4,585.3 points. The MSX Shariah index, on the other hand, showed a relatively stronger monthly gain of 5.03 per cent during August.

However, the MSX30 index on Sunday declined 0.44 per cent to close at 4,584.61 points.

‘Consistent gains over the last three months pushed the MSX30 index at the number three position in the GCC in terms of year-to-date returns that reached double digits at 11 per cent at the end of August 2022,’ Kamco Investment said in a research note on Sunday.

In terms of sectoral performance, all three sectors at the MSX closed in the green during August. Industrial index topped the monthly performance with a gain of 14.2 per cent followed by financial and services indices with gains of 1.05 per cent and 1.03 per cent, respectively.

In terms of year-to-date performance, financial index topped with a gain of 11.8 per cent followed by industrial and service indices with gains of 7.3 per cent and 3.3 per cent, respectively.

In terms of company performance, shares of Asaffa Foods more than doubled during the month with a gain of 118.6 per cent. Raysut Cement was next with a gain of 51 per cent followed by Oman Cables Industry and Gulfar Engineering and Contracting with gains of 50 per cent and 25.9 per cent, respectively.

On the decliners side, Barka Water and Power reported the biggest decline of 50 per cent followed by SMN Power Holding and Muscat Thread Mill with declines of 34.9 per cent and 22.9 per cent, respectively.

Trading activity improves

Trading activity at the MSX showed strong recovery during August with gains for the second consecutive month. Monthly value of shares traded reached a four-month high level of RO77.7mn during August as compared to RO53mn during July, a gain of 46.6 per cent, according to Kamco Investment.

Monthly volume of shares traded also reached a four-month high at 314.3mn shares during August as compared to 219.9mn shares during July.

Bank Muscat topped the monthly value traded chart for the month with trades at RO13.6mn followed by Omantel and Ooredoo Oman with total trades at RO10.7mn and RO4.6mn, respectively.

Within the GCC markets, Dubai was the best performing market in the GCC with a return of 3.2 per cent in August followed by Abu Dhabi and Oman with monthly returns of 2.2 per cent and 1.2 per cent, respectively.

The GCC aggregate index showed flattish performance with a marginal gain of 0.3 per cent during August after initial gains during the first half of the month were almost fully offset by consecutive declines during the second half.

‘Most markets in the region remained range-bound during the month and ended with mostly positive performance. In terms of year-to-date performance, the MSCI GCC index showed one of the best returns when compared to other global markets with a return of 7.7 per cent,’ Kamco Investment noted.