Muscat: By the end of September, the market capitalization of the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) had risen to OMR39.23 billion, an increase of about OMR590 million, driven by higher market capitalization among closed companies and publicly traded joint-stock companies listed on the parallel market.
Meanwhile, trading value fell 6.4% during the month to 914 million OMR, compared with about 976.5 million OMR in August, while the number of executed trades rose to 199,000 from 178,000 in August.
Investors on MSX focused on shares of banks, investment and finance companies, insurers and industrial companies in last month's trading, following the improvement in the performance of these sectors in recent months and ahead of the release of preliminary third-quarter financial results for the current year.
The gains in shares of banks, investment and finance companies, and insurers were reflected in the performance of the Financial Sector Index, which rose 220 points to close above the 13,600-point level, while the Industrial Sector Index gained about 200 points to close at 9,812 points.
The MSX saw the prices of 54 securities rise last month, while 41 declined and 13 remained unchanged. However, the gains didn't translate into an increase in the main index, which was weighed down by the declines and closed at 7,566 points, down 37 points.
