MSM weighed down by negative sentiment 

(MENAFN - Muscat Daily) Most regional markets retreated as investors became nervous ahead of the two-day policy meeting of the US Federal Reserve and the German Constitutional Court ruling on the legality of the country participating in Europe's permanent bailout fund.The Muscat Securities Market general index was weighed down by negative investor sentiment and slid 0.73 per cent to close at 5,551.51. Trading activity declined significantly as a total of 1,263 trades were executed generating a turnover of RO4.67mn while 15.33mn shares were exchange over the counters.Galfar Engineering & Contracting gained 1.26 per cent and closed with highest volume, while bank muscat (-1.96 per cent at 549bz) topped the list with highest turnover.Market breadth remained in favour of decliners as of the 46 stocks traded for the day, 29 declined while 5 advanced and 12 stocks closed unchanged.Stocks closing as top gainers for the day were Dhofar Cattle Feed (1.91 per cent  at 160bz), Oman Cement Company (1.29 per cent  at 629bz), Galfar (1.26 per cent  at 401bz), Al Jazeera Steel Products (0.67 per cent  at 302bz) and Al Maha Petroleum (0.12 per cent at RO16.58) while stocks closing as top losers for the day were Transgulf Holding (-4.55 per cent at 84bz), United Finance (-3.70 per cent at 130bz), Al Hassan Engineering (-3.19 per cent at 182bz), Construction Materials Industries (-3.18 per cent at 61bz) and ONIC Holding (-2.94 per cent at 264bz).Among the sectoral indices, the Financial index lost the most at 1.40 per cent as the key banking stocks witnessed selling pressure across the counters.HSBC Bank Oman closed down 1.36 per cent ; Bank Dhofar fell 1.30 per cent while Ahlibank edged lower by 1.18 per cent. The Services index closed down 0.55 per cent while the Industrial Index closed with marginal gain on 0.06 per cent.By arrangement with National Bank of Oman