Muscat – Oman’s stock exchange recorded the biggest monthly decline in the GCC during October 2022. The Muscat Stock Exchange’s (MSX) main index declined for the second consecutive month and closed at 4,528.3 points on October 31, registering a monthly decline of 3.6 per cent.

The performance of GCC stock markets remained mixed during October with declines reported by Oman, Qatar, Bahrain and Dubai exchanges while Abu Dhabi, Saudi and Kuwait exchanges showed gains, according to a research report released by Kamco Investment.

At the aggregate level, however, the MSCI GCC index was up by 2.8 per cent in October to close at 761.9 points amidst a volatile trade that saw gains during the first and third weeks being partially offset by declines during alternate weeks.

At the Muscat Stock Exchange, all three sectoral indices recorded declines during October. Services index recorded 5.8 per cent monthly decline, largest fall among the sectors in the Omani exchange. Industrial index followed closely witnessing a monthly fall of 5.35 per cent while financial index dropped by 3.2 per cent in comparison, the report showed.

The declines over the last two months further lowered the Muscat Stock Exchange’s year-to-date gains which stood at 5.7 per cent at the end of October. Only financial index recorded gains since the start of the year at 6.3 per cent, while services and industrial indices recorded year-to-date declines of 5.6 per cent and 3.1 per cent, respectively.

The MSX’s monthly stock performance chart showed Al Maha Ceramics topping the chart with a gain of 9.6 per cent followed by Oman Cables Industry and Construction Materials Industries with gains of 6.9 per cent and 6.8 per cent, respectively.

On the decliners chart, Al Madina Investment Holding topped with a share price slide of 41.2 per cent followed by United Finance and Raysut Cement with declines of 32.6 per cent and 29.3 per cent, respectively.

Weak trading activity

Trading activity on the MSX remained at one of the lowest levels since the start of the year during October. Monthly value of shares traded reached the second-lowest level since the start of the year to reach RO43.3mn in October against RO44.4mn during September, a marginal fall of 2.6 per cent.

Monthly volume of shares traded at the Omani bourse reached the lowest level in 23 months at 174.1mn traded shares, recording a decline of 5.7 per cent as compared to 184.7mn traded shares during September.

Bank Muscat once again topped the monthly value traded chart with trades at RO13.4mn followed by Omantel and BankDhofar with total trades at RO5.9mn and RO2.85mn, respectively. In terms of volume of trades, Bank Muscat again topped with 23.2mn shares followed by BankDhofar and Bank Nizwa with volume at 19.9mn shares and 13.1mn shares, respectively.

In terms of investor participation, the share of Omanis in the total value shares bought increased significantly from 82.6 per cent in September to 93.21 per cent in October.

Within the GCC markets, Abu Dhabi’s ADX reported the highest monthly returns of 6.8 per cent during October followed by Kuwait’s All Share index Saudi Arabia’s TASI with gains of 3.0 per cent and 2.3 per cent, respectively.

In terms of year-to-date performance, ADX further strengthened its lead in the region with a gain of 22.7 per cent followed by Qatar and Oman with gains of 6.8 per cent and 5.7 per cent, respectively.