Muscat Securities Market Weekly Report Sep 8 - Sep 12, 2002

Several scrips in the Banks and Investment (B&I) Sector declined during the week ended Thursday, Sep 12, 2002, resulting in a 0.9% decline in the B&I Index. OIB, Bank Muscat, ONIC Holding, Gulf Investment Services, Al Mawarid Securities and Transgulf were the major losers in this Sector. Its impact was felt on the General MSM index which registered a decline of 0.3% to 184.76 points, from 185.27 in the previous week. The MSM index weekly high/low was 185.31/184.61. The Industry Sector however, posted good gains, registering an appreciation of 1.4%, contributed by a 4.7% and 3.4% increase in the share prices of Oman Cement and National Aluminium respectively. The Services Sector recorded a marginal gain of 0.3%, as scrips such as Oman National Electric, Oman Fisheries and Shell Oman appreciated by 1.6%, 1.5% and 0.8% respectively.

Trading volume was substantially lower at RO 2.4 million, as against RO 4.1 million in the previous week. The actively traded shares were Oman International Bank, Ominvest, Alliance Housing Bank, ONIC Holding and NBO. Rumours about a merger between Alliance Housing Bank and NBO were denied by the Bank's officials, but it had the effect of taking Alliance Housing Bank's share price up to 730 bz, a gain of 4.3% over the previous week. There was trading in moderate quantities in Industry Sector shares such as Oman Cement, Dhofar Cattlefeed, Oman Textile Mills and Oman Flour Mills. A large deal of 183,000 shares in National Aluminium, resulted in its share price witnessing a gain of 3.4% during the week. There was trading in 50,223 shares of Oman Chemical Industries in a single trading session, with its share price closing on a 2.7% decline, to 360 bz.

Declines outnumbered advances, with 22 scrips declining in value and only 13 registering price appreciation. The top five gainers of the week were Global Financial Investment (+7.1%, 910bz), Oman Cement (+4.7%, RO 2.020), Alliance Housing Bank (+4.3%, 730 bz), National Aluminium Products (+3.4%, RO 1.500) and Al Omaniya Financial (+1.8%, RO 2.760).

The major loser of the week was Al Mawarid Securities, which witnessed a decline of 11.8% to 300 bz, from 340 bz in the previous week. The Company has released its draft results for the half year ended June 30, 2002, indicating a net loss of RO 34K. Other major losers were National Biscuits (-9.8%, RO 3.130), Transgulf (-8.4%, 760 bz), Salalah Flour Mills (-7.1%, RO 1.700) and Al Anwar Ceramic Tiles (-5.7%, RO 3.300).