Muscat - (Saba):
The Muscat Stock Exchange's main index rose last week, approaching the 4,500-point level, benefiting from increased liquidity, increased purchases by local investment institutions, and improvements in most local and global economic indicators.
The main index rose 87 points last week, closing at 4,497 points, its best level since February 11. Sectoral indices also registered notable gains, with the industrial sector index rising 203 points to 6,200 points. The financial sector index also rose 161 points, and the services sector index rose to 1,588 points, recording a weekly increase of 23 points.
The Shariah index also rose by approximately 15 points, closing the week at 427 points.
Last week, the Muscat Stock Exchange benefited from buying interest from local investment institutions, accounting for 63.4 percent of the total trading value, compared to selling at 54.9 percent. This demand pushed trading value up last week to OMR 41.2 million, compared to OMR 25 million the previous week. Transactions executed rose from 6,348 to 9,369, a 47 percent increase.
Last week, the prices of 49 securities rose, while prices of 17 securities declined, and 15 securities remained stable. These increases led to a rise in the market value of securities listed on the Muscat Stock Exchange by the end of last week to OMR 27.735 billion, recording weekly gains of OMR 75.2 million.