Muscat – Oman’s Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) emerged as the top-performing equity market in the GCC region in April. MSX was the only market in the GCC region that recorded gains during April, while all other GCC markets reported declines.

The MSX30 Index registered 3.2% monthly gains during April, closing the month at 4,784.2 points. The index witnessed consistent gains during the first half of the month followed by a marginal decline during the third week, according to a research report published by Kuwait-based Kamco Investment.

The report stated that the gains of 1.9% during the last five trading sessions added to the overall growth in the Omani index during April.

In terms of sectoral performance, two out of the three sector indices on the exchange recorded gains during the month. The Financial Index recorded a 5.5% increase during April, the biggest gain among the indices, mainly driven by gains in shares of several companies in the sector such as Sohar International Bank (+22.7%) and Global Investment Holding Company (+18.0%). In comparison, the Industrial Index registered a 3.5% monthly gain during April, while the Services Index witnessed a marginal monthly drop of 0.8%.

Regarding company performance, Al Hassan Engineering topped the gainers’ list with a share price gain of 92.3%, followed by Voltamp Energy and Muscat Thread Mills with 152.9% and 130.4% monthly share gains, respectively.

On the decliners’ side, National Mineral Water Company led the chart with an 18.2% share price fall, followed by Sharqiyah Desalination Company and Musandam Power Company, which witnessed share price drops of 15.4% and 10.3%, respectively.

Trading activity on the Muscat Stock Exchange witnessed a moderate decline during the last month. The total volume of shares traded on the exchange increased by 6.6% to 696.3mn shares during April, compared to 653.4mn shares traded in March.

Similarly, the total value traded on the exchange increased by 43.9% to RO116.2mn, against RO80.7mn in March. Ahli Bank topped the monthly value traded chart with trades at RO27.7mn, followed by Sohar International Bank and Bank Muscat with total values traded at RO12.1mn and RO11.7mn, respectively.

Global downturn weighs on GCC markets

The GCC Index witnessed a decline for the second consecutive month in April after a broad-based decline in most global indices during the month affected the performance of regional markets.

Almost all markets in the GCC witnessed declines during the month, barring Oman, which witnessed growth for the second consecutive month, according to Kamco Investment.

The global decline mainly reflected sticky inflation numbers, especially in the US, in addition to profit-taking and continued geopolitical issues. The elevated inflation level has also impacted talks of rate cuts, with consensus now seeing one or at most two cuts later this year.

The MSCI GCC index declined by 2.1% during the month, reflecting low single-digit declines across markets, while Oman’s MSX 30 Index witnessed growth of 3.2%. Kuwait’s All-Share index witnessed the biggest decline during the month, at 3.8%.

Dubai and Abu Dhabi benchmarks also witnessed declines of around 2%, while Saudi’s TASI dropped marginally following partial recovery towards the end of the month.

With the decline in April, the year-to-date performance for the MSCI GCC index now stands at 2.0% in the red. In terms of individual markets, Qatar and Abu Dhabi indices reported steep declines for year-to-date, while the rest of the GCC markets showed gains.