Muscat: The benchmark index ended the week down by 328 points, closing at 7,631 points. However, after falling to a three-month low of 7,243 points in Wednesday’s session, the market rebounded sharply on Thursday, climbing 388 points with support from banking, telecommunications, energy and OQ Group stocks.

Despite the late recovery, all sectoral indices closed the week lower. The industrial sector index recorded the steepest fall, losing 220 points, followed by the services sector index, which dropped 138 points. The financial sector index declined by 128 points, while the Sharia index slipped 27 points to close at 612 points.

Analysts noted that the recent declines pushed several leading stocks back to levels last seen at the end of the first quarter, encouraging investors to return to buying in anticipation of another upward trend.
Among the top gainers were shares of Omantel, Al Jazeera Steel Products, Barka Water and Power, Oman Arab Bank, Bank Nizwa, Bank Dhofar, Al Safa Foods and Oman Oil Marketing Company.

Sohar Power posted one of the biggest jumps of the week, surging 41.5 percent from 226 baisa to 320 baisa. Shares of Omantel rose 5.8 percent to close at RO 1.455, while Oman Arab Bank gained 5.3 percent to finish at 215 baisa.

During the week, 25 securities advanced while 59 declined and 12 remained unchanged. However, Thursday’s session alone saw 56 securities rise against only five decliners.

The rebound also boosted market capitalisation, which gained RO 926 million during Thursday’s trading. This helped narrow the week’s losses to RO 580 million, with total market value closing at around RO 36.8 billion.
Trading activity strengthened notably, with total trading value climbing 15.7 percent to RO 288.7 million compared to RO 249.4 million the previous week. The number of executed transactions also increased by 27.6 percent to 33,747 deals.

OQ Basic Industries topped the list of most traded companies by value at RO 69.6 million, accounting for 24.1 percent of total trading value. Bank Muscat followed with RO 60.4 million, while Omantel recorded trades worth RO 31.5 million. Bank Sohar International came fourth with RO 31.3 million, followed by OQ Exploration and Production at RO 30.5 million.

In corporate developments, Voltamp Energy announced that its board approved reducing the nominal share value from 100 baisa to 10 baisa in a move aimed at boosting liquidity, increasing trading activity and attracting more retail investors. The change will take effect from June 2, increasing the company’s shares from 100 million to one billion while maintaining capital at RO 10 million. The company’s stock closed Thursday at RO 1.795.

Meanwhile, the Muscat Stock Exchange also listed the first issue of Dhofar Islamic sukuk in the bonds and sukuk market. The issue comprises five million sukuk valued at RO 1 each, offering an annual return of 5 percent.