Muscat – The Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) has retained its position as the best-performing equity market in the GCC so far this year, with its benchmark MSX30 Index gaining 29.6% by the end of August, supported by a strong recovery during the last month.

The MSX30 Index rose 4.5% during August to close the month at 7,604.01 points, making Oman the second-best-performing GCC market during the month, behind Saudi Arabia, which gained 5.1%.

The strong August performance further extended MSX’s lead over its regional peers on a year-to-date basis, underscoring the resilience of Omani bourse despite volatility in regional and global markets.

Most GCC equity markets recovered in August as geopolitical tensions in the Middle East eased, while equities were supported by a healthy corporate earnings season, according to a report released by Kuwait-based Kamco Invest on Tuesday.

The MSCI GCC Index rose 3.9% in August, breaking a three-month losing streak and recording its strongest monthly gain in seven months.

Saudi Arabia led the GCC markets in August with a 5.1% gain, followed by Oman at 4.5% and Kuwait at 1.6%. The UAE’s Abu Dhabi and Dubai exchanges recorded marginal gains of 0.9% and 0.7%, respectively. Qatar and Bahrain, meanwhile, declined by 1.1% and 1.0%, respectively.

The rally on MSX was broad-based, with all three sectoral indices ending August higher.

The Services Index led the gains, rising 5.9% to 3,060.38 points, followed by the Financial Index, which advanced 3.6%. The Industrial Index gained 1.6%.

Total market capitalisation of the MSX increased 2.8% in August to reach RO38.64bn.

Among individual stocks, Al Batinah Development & Investment Holding was the top gainer in August, with its share price surging 23.3%. Abraj Energy Services and Oman Chromite followed with gains of 16.5% and 15.2%, respectively.

National Aluminium Products was the biggest decliner, with its share price falling 50%. Salalah Mills and Salalah Port Services declined 10.6% and 9.8%, respectively.

Trading activity strengthens

Trading activity on MSX also picked up in August, with both the volume and value of shares traded increasing from July. The volume of shares traded rose 2.8% to 3.472bn shares from 3.377bn shares in July, while total turnover increased 6.1% to RO976.5mn from RO920.9mn.

Sohar International Bank topped the monthly value-traded ranking with transactions worth RO173.8mn, followed by OQ Base Industries at RO167.4mn and Bank Muscat at RO164.3mn.

The combination of a strong monthly advance and increased trading activity has helped MSX maintain its position as the GCC’s top-performing equity market in 2026.