The fall in the MSM continued during the week ended Thursday, Sep 19, 2002. The MSM index closed at 183.25 points, which is 0.8% lower than 184.76 in the previous week. The weekly high/low of the index was 185.00/183.25. The Banks and Investment Sector index led the decline, with a 1.1% fall over the previous week's closing. National Bank of Oman was the major contributor to the decline. The Bank had held a discussion at the MSM during the week and disclosed that although corrective measures had been introduced
during the year, by re-constituting their Credit Committee, using advanced risk evaluation techniques and making provisions on a quarterly basis, it still had substantial bad loans exposure in Egypt and Oman. This news had the effect of taking the share price down to RO 1.360, a drop of 6.8% over the previous week. Bank Muscat, Alliance Housing Bank, ONIC Holding and Ominvest also declined by 0.3%, 2.7%, 0.6% and 0.9% respectively. The only gainers in this Sector were OIB, Al Omaniya Financial and Global Financial Investments. The Industy and Services sector indices both declined by 0.4%. In the Industry Sector, Oman Cement, Salalah Flour Mills, Dhofar Cattlefeed and Oman Fiber Optics declined by 1%, 0.6%, 0.7% and 15.1% respectively. In the Services Sector, Oman Aviation, Oman Fisheries, Topaz and Renaissance Holding fell by 4.4%, 1.5%, 2.9% and 1.8% respectively.
Trading volume fell further to RO 2 million, as compared to RO 2.4 million in the previous week. The most actively traded scrips were Oman International Bank (162,391 shares), Bank Muscat convertible bonds (139,316), National Bank of Oman (160,000 shares), ONIC Holding (84,483 shares) and Gulf Investment Services (82,460 shares). While the latter three scrips registered a decline in price over the previous week's closing, Bank Muscat convertible bonds price remained unchanged at RO 1.070. OIB has strengthened its management team by appointing Mr John Carlough as its CEO last week. The scrip gained 0.8% during the week.
Declines outnumbered advances, with 26 scrips declining in value and only 10 registering price appreciation. The top five gainers of the week were Modern Poultry Farms (+17.5%, 470 bz), Al Anwar Ceramic Tiles (+6.1%, RO 3.500), Raysut Cement (+5%, 840 bz), Oman National Livestock 50%(+4.3%, 720 bz) and Oman Flour Mills (+1.4%, RO 1.400). The major losers of the week were National Biscuit Industry (-18.8%, RO 2.540), Oman
Fiber Optics (-15.1%, 790 bz), National Bank of Oman (-6.8%, RO 1.360), Al Jazeera Services (-6.8%, RO 2.200) and Al Khaleej Polypropylene (-5.2%, RO 1.630).
