Lakhasly

Muscat: The dividends announced by public joint stock companies listed on the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) during the week attracted more investors which pushed the main index and sectoral indices to record new gains. It also saw an increase in traded shares and transactions executed as well as a rise in value. The stock market saw gains of OMR89 million to OMR23.85 billion at the end of the week’s trading session.

The past few days of the week also witnessed more than 20 public joint-stock companies listed on the MSX announcing their recommendations for distributing profits. Most notably Oman Cable Industry Company announced a cash dividend of 85 percent, or 85 baisas per share, Shell Oman Marketing announced a dividend of 36 percent, Sahara Hospitality announced a 25 percent dividend, Al Anwar Ceramic Tiles announced a 20 percent dividend.

Also, several companies have moved to distributing bonds convertible into shares, such as the Oman Arab Bank, National Bank of Oman (NBO) and Bank Nizwa, that are expected to distribute and pay dividends to its shareholders in the coming days after the boards of directors approve the financial results for the year ending December.

The past week witnessed an increase in the number of shares traded by 44 percent, exceeding 85 million compared to 59 million shares traded in the previous week. The number of transactions executed also increased from 3,542 to 3,554 deals. The past week’s trading value recorded a decline of 7 percent from OMR11.8 million to about OMR11 millions. This coincided with investors’ interest in stocks with low market value such as Al Suwadi Energy, Al Anwar Investments, Sohar International Bank, and OQ Gas Networks.

OQ Gas Networks topped the most traded companies in terms of trading value after witnessing trades worth OMR2.46 million, representing 22.4 percent of the total trading value. Sohar International Bank came next with trades amounting to OMR1.95 million, Bank Muscat’s perpetual bonds came next with trades valued at OMR1.14 million, Al Anwar Ceramic Tiles came next with trades valued at OMR998,000 and Al Anwar Investments reported trades worth OMR622,000.

During the week, the prices of 27 securities rose, most notably Al Batinah Energy, whose shares rose by 40 percent and closed at 42 baisas, Al Suwadi Power shares rose by 31.4 percent and closed at 46 baisas, Al Anwar Ceramic Tiles, shares rose by about 18 percent and closed at 191 baisas.

During the week, the prices of 27 securities declined, most notably Musandam Power shares, which fell by 9.2 percent and closed at 295 baisas, Oman Mills shares fell by 6.5 percent and closed at 460 baisas, and Dhofar Electricity Generation shares fell by 6.2 percent and closed at 45 baisas.

The Oman National Engineering and Investment Company announced that the Oman Electricity Transmission Company was assigned two tenders worth OMR41.9 million regarding the establishment of electricity transmission stations and associated transmission lines in the Dhofar Governorate for a period of 18 months starting from the date of award. It said that these projects come within the important projects that were recently assigned to the company, in which it achieved successes and qualitative leaps in building expertise. It is expected that through these projects, additional expertise and appropriate returns will be achieved.