Muscat bourse recovers amid better volume

Better trading activity lifted the MSM30 Index to 5,770.06 points, a gain of 0.33 per cent. The MSM Sharia Index ended at 857.99 points, up by 0.07 per cent. Phoenix Power was the most active in terms of volume as well as turnover. With gain of 7.23 per cent, Galfar Engineering was the top gainer while Al Anwar Ceramics was the top loser with a loss of 2.47 per cent.

As manyas 1,092 trades were executed on Monday, generating turnover of OMR5.87 million with 32.5 million shares changing hands. Out of 44 traded securities, 19 advanced, 6 declined and 19 remained unchanged. Omani investors remained net buyers of OMR826,000 while foreign investors were net sellers of OMR440,000 followed by GCC and Arab investors for OMR386,000 worth of shares. 

Financial Index advanced 0.73 per cent to close at 7,948.54 points. Al Madina Takaful, Gulf Investment Services, Oman Orix Leasing, HSBC Bank and Al Sharqia Investments gained 4.94 per cent, 2.61 per cent, 2.40 per cent, 2.36 per cent and 2.10 per cent, respectively. Global Financial Investment, down by 1.76 per cent, was the only loser.

Industrial Index closed at 7,572.18 points, up by 0.46 per cent. Galfar Engineering and Oman Fisheries increased by 7.23 per cent and 5.26 per cent, respectively. Al Anwar Ceramics and Al Jazeera Steel declined by 2.47 per cent and 0.75 per cent, respectively.

Services Index gained 0.18 per cent to close at 3,017.22 points. Phoenix Power, Ooredoo and Al Batinah Power gained 2.04 per cent, 0.65 per cent and 0.54 per cent, respectively. National Gas, Port Services and Oman Telecommunications Company fell 1.75 per cent, 0.79 per cent and 0.35 per cent, respectively.

Sensex bounces back

Investors set out for bargain hunting on Monday that helped the benchmark Sensex stage a modest recovery at 27,117 at the close as hopes grew that the upcoming Budget on February 1 would contain steps that can ease the impact of the cash ban.

The market, which remained range-bound for the much of the session, turned better towards the end after the Supreme Court dismissed a petition seeking postponement of the Union budget on the ground of forthcoming Assembly polls in 5 states.

Metal and mining stocks stirred fancy as base metal prices rose at the London Metal Exchange (LME) on expectations that demand might pick up as the US President Donald Trump reiterated plans to spend on infrastructure amid weakness in the dollar.

The 30-share Sensex moved both ways before settling at 27,117.34, up 82.84 points, or 0.31 per cent. Intra-day, it moved between 26,963.58 and 27,167.79.

The gauge had lost 274.10 points in the previous session on Friday as investors tried to look for clarity from the initial days of the Trump administration.

The broad-based NSE Nifty recovered 42.15 points, or 0.50 per cent, to 8,391.50 after hitting a high of 8,404.15 and a low of 8,327.20.

A mixed trend in Asia and a lower opening in Europe pulled back participants here as Trump's economic policy details gradually emerge, traders said.

Volatility was the order of the day ahead of expiry of derivatives contracts this week, which is truncated due to a holiday on Thursday on account of Republic Day.

"At the start of the expiry week, benchmark indices in India traded volatile, with the India VIX going up a notch to trade at 15.80 levels," said Karthikraj Lakshmanan, Senior Fund Manager, Equities, BNP Paribas Mutual Fund.

In the metal space, Tata Steel, Hindalco, National Aluminium, JSW Steel, Jindal Steel, Hindustan Zinc, Vedanta Ltd and NMDC caught buyers' attention and climbed by up to 5.75 per cent.

The optimism ensured banking stocks kept aside their asset quality worries while IT companies that were on the backfoot last week ahead of Trump's inaugural speech gave up the cautionary stance.

The recently battered blue-chips turned attractive amid encouraging earnings by some companies.

GAIL surged the most, rising 2.41 per cent, followed by HDFC Ltd (1.77 per cent) and Tata Motors (1.72 per cent).

The metal index gained the maximum by rising 2.61 per cent, followed by PSU (1.26 per cent), oil and gas (1.15 per cent) and IT (0.63 per cent).

The broader markets rose, with the mid-cap and small-cap indices ending higher by 0.48 per cent and 0.47 per cent, respectively.

Indices in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore ended higher while Japan's Nikkei declined 1.29 per cent. European market was trading in the negative zone in early trade.

Source :Times Of Oman