Shares on the Muscat Securities Market (MSM) showed a weak trend in the first 11 months of 2018, with the MSM 30 Index slumping by 13.7% to close at 4,412.1 points from 5,109.6 points for the same period of last year.

Among different sub-sectors, manufacturing sub-index plunged by 22.6% to 5,254 points during January-November period of 2018, compared to 6,791 points for the same period of 2017, according to the latest monthly statistics released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI). The financial services sub-index fell by 7.5% to 6,890 points during the 11-month period of this year from 7,452 points for the same month of 2017. Similarly, services sub-sector index fell 8.8% to 2,354 points from 2,580 points during the period under review, the NCSI data show. Further, the market turnover at MSM fell 24.7% to OMR700.42 million in the first 11 months of 2018, from OMR930.70 million for the same period of last year. In addition, the net purchase of Omani investors on the Muscat bourse was higher at OMR158.21 million during January-November period of 2018, against OMR74.82 million for the same period of 2017, shows NCSI report. However, the GCC and Arab investors were net sellers to the tune of OMR41.19 million and OMR39.75 million, respectively, during the 11-month period of 2018. Other foreign investors were also net sellers to the extent of OMR77.27 million worth of shares during January-November period of 2018, against OMR42.44 million shares for the same period of last year, the NCSI report said. The NCSI data also showed that there was an 8.4% fall in total number of shares traded on the local bourse at 3.76 billion during January-November period of this year, against 4.10 billion shares traded for the same period of last year.

In 2017, the Muscat bourse closed the year with the MSM 30 Index ending at 5,099.3 points, while the market turnover stood at OMR992.71 million.