Oman- MSM30 slips on oil volatility profit booking

2/4/2016 1:46:28 AM

(MENAFN- Muscat Daily) Muscat-

Volatility in oil prices and profit-booking weighed down the MSM30 index which lost 0.51 per cent to 5165.51 on Wednesday.

Turnover and volume fell 54.59 per cent and 39.68 per cent to RO3.4mn and 17.4mn respectively as investors turned cautious. Market breadth was slightly positive as of the 37 companies traded 10 closed higher nine slipped and 18 remained unchanged.

The Financial sub-index dropped 0.54 per cent to 6345.74 while the Industrial gauge closed down 0.64 per cent at 6486.49. The only survivor was the Services index which went up 0.14 per cent at 2900.74.

Top gainers included Oman Fisheries (+4.26 per cent) Dhofar Cattle Feed (+2.84 per cent) and Gulf International Chemicals (+1.87 per cent) while top laggards included HSBC Bank Oman (-6 per cent) Raysut Cement (-4.18 per cent) and Al Sharqia Investment Holding (-2.17 per cent).

Oil advanced after the biggest two-day drop in almost seven years as prices below US$30 a barrel drew buyers.

Futures gained 1.8 per cent in New York paring a drop of 11 per cent the previous two sessions. U.S. crude inventories expanded by 3.8mn barrels last week the American Petroleum Institute was said to report on Tuesday.

West Texas Intermediate for March delivery rose 56 cents to US$30.44 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1:33pm London time. The contract lost 5.5 per cent to US$29.88 on Tuesday.

Brent for April settlement was 63 cents higher at US$33.35 a barrel on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange. The contract dropped US$1.52 to US$32.72 on Tuesday.

By special arrangement with Oman Arab Bank - Investment Management Group

- With inputs from Bloomberg

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