Muscat bourse drops over US election results

Muscat: The surprise election result in the United States weighed on local markets, which closed at 5,406.44 points, down by 0.60 per cent and year-to-date market performance in MSM is now flat. The MSM Sharia Index declined by 0.20 per cent to close at 837.91 points.
Due to a special deal, Al Fajar Al Alamia was the most active in terms of volume as well as turnover. The top gainer was Construction Materials, up by 3.33 per cent, while Takaful Oman was the top loser, down by 9 per cent.
As many as 475 trades were executed on Wednesday, generating turnover of OMR9.39 million with 23.1 million shares changing hands. Out of 35 traded securities, five advanced, 16 declined and 14 remained unchanged. Omani investors stayed net buyers for OMR676,000 followed by GCC and Arab investors for OMR158,000 while foreign investors were net sellers for OMR834,000 worth of shares.
Financial Index had strong loss of 1.19 per cent to end at 6,961.76 points. Takaful Oman, Bank Dhofar, Al Madina Investment, Al Madina Takaful and National Bank of Oman lost 9 per cent, 3.72 per cent, 3.70 per cent, 2.67 per cent and 2.65 per cent, respectively.
Industrial Index retreated 0.23 per cent to close at 7,081.97 points. Construction Materials, Oman Fisheries and Oman Cement advanced 3.33 per cent, 1.69 per cent and 0.90 per cent, respectively. Al Anwar Ceramics and Galfar Engineering declined by 4.05 per cent and 1.08 per cent, respectively.
Services Index ended at 3,010.13 points, down by 0.10 per cent. Oman National Engineering and Al Jazeera Services declined by 0.69 per cent and 0.56 per cent, respectively. Port Services, Phoenix Power, ACWA Power and OIFC fell by 2.10 per cent, 1.43 per cent, 1.13 per cent and 0.55 per cent, respectively.