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Muscat: The MSX 30 index witnessed a monthly growth of 3.1 percent during June-2023 to close the month at 4,768.22 points recording three consecutive months of gains, according to a new report.
“In terms of sector performance, two out of three sector indices recorded gains during June-2023,” the Kuwait-based Kamco Invest said in its latest GCC stock market report for June 2023.
The Financial Sector Index, which recorded the biggest monthly fall of 4.9 percent during May-2023 recovered and witnessed the biggest monthly gain among the indices with 3.6 percent growth closing the month at 7,830.13 points. The growth was primarily driven by the significant share price growth of certain companies such as Dhofar International Development and Investment Holding (+43.9 percent), National Finance Co (+11.1 percent) and Ahli Bank (+6.7 percent).
The Industrial Index followed, recording a gain of 2.6 percent during June-2023 while the Services Index registered a marginal decline of 0.4 percent during the month to close the month at 1,695.3 points. Significant share price declines of companies like Arabia Falcon Insurance (-9.1 percent), Majan College (-8.7 percent) and Oman Oil Marketing Co (-14.2 percent) contributed to the overall decline of indices’ monthly drop.
In terms of company performance, Dhofar International Dev. & Inv. Holding Company topped the gainers list with a share price gain of 43.9 percent followed by Dhofar Cattle Feed and Al Omaniya Financial Services Co with 14.1 percent and 13.7 percent monthly share gains, respectively.
On the decliner’s side, Barka Water and Power topped the monthly losers list with a share price drop of 34.5 percent followed by Oman Investment & Finance Co and Oman Oil Marketing Company which recorded 18.7 percent and 14.2 percent share price declines during the month, respectively.
Trading activity on the exchange decreased for the second consecutive month. The total volume of shares traded in the exchange fell 41.9 percent to 137.1 million shares as compared to 235.9 million in May-2023. Similarly, the total value traded in the exchange declined by 41.2 percent to OMR31.5 million against OMR53.6 million in May-2023. Bank Muscat topped the monthly value traded chart with trades at OMR16.3 million followed by Sohar Bank, Galfar Engineering and Contracting with total value traded at OMR9.9 million and OMR7.8 million, respectively. In terms of monthly volume traded, Oman Telecommunications Company topped the table with 7.2 million shares followed by Bank Muscat and Oman Qatari Telecommunication Company with volumes at 4.4 million shares and 1.6 million shares, respectively.
In economic news, a consortium of companies led by the South Korean steel-making company Posco has won a $6.7 billion hydrogen deal from Oman. The project aims to build the world's largest hydrogen plant in Oman to achieve the country’s 2050 net zero goal. The consortium which consists of four Korean companies, a French company and a Thai corporate will build the plant in the port town of Duqm. The Sultanate is expected to become the largest exporter of hydrogen in the Middle East and the sixth-largest exporter of hydrogen globally. According to the IEA, the global green hydrogen market is expected to expand to $1.4 trillion by 2050 up from $642 billion in 2030.
On the other hand, the IMF has revised its GDP growth forecast for Oman from 1.7 percent to 1.3 percent in 2023. The IMF explained that this year's forecasted slowdown reflects oil production cuts by Opec+ and moderate growth in the non-hydrocarbon sector of the Sultanate.
GCC market performance
Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) equity markets closed in the green during June-2023 after seeing declines during the previous month backed by optimism in global financial markets. The aggregate MSCI GCC index was up 2.8 percent during the month reflecting positive performance in most markets in the region.
DFM was the best-performing market in the GCC with a monthly return of 6.0 percent followed by Saudi Arabia’s TASI and Kuwait with gains of 4 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively. Qatar and
Bahrain, on the other hand, reported marginal declines of 0.8 percent and 0.3 percent, respectively.
The gains in most global markets were reflected in the 5.9 percent gain in the MSCI World Index in June-2023. This pushed 2023 first-half gains to 14 percent mainly backed by gains in US Tech stocks.
Gains during the month supported the aggregate MSCI GCC index to record a gain of 0.3 percent in 1H-2023 after falling in the red at the end of May-2023. Dubai was the best-performing market this year with a double-digit gain of 13.7 percent followed by Saudi and Bahrain with gains of 9.4 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively. The rest of the markets recorded declines during 1H-2023, with ADX witnessing the biggest decline of 6.5 percent followed by Qatar and Kuwait with declines of 5.7 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively.
The sector performance chart for the month showed gains across the board barring the retailing sector which declined by 3.7 percent. Insurance was the best-performing sector during the month with a gain of 12 percent followed by 11.9 percent and 9.2 percent gains for consumer durable and F&B indices, respectively. Large-cap sectors like banks and energy reported low single-digit gains during the month. Performance in 1H-2023 was positive across the board but a decline of 1.6 percent in the large-cap banking sector and a 7.1 percent drop in the capital goods index almost fully offset the gains in the rest of the sectors.
