Muscat, September 11: Rising oil prices and a government stabilising fund have helped the Muscat Securities Market (MSM) recover from the global financial crunch, the head of the fund said yesterday.
The chairman of the fund Rashid Al Masroori said the bourse’s index was 4,813 when the government started injecting the investment stabilisation fund into the Omani stock exchange.
“The index is now 6,547, a rise of approximately 36 per cent. In addition to the rise and continued positive sentiment, the traded daily and weekly volume more than doubled since the inception of the fund,” Al Masroori said.
Oman shored up its bourse through a 150 million Omani rial ($389.6m) fund in partnership with the private sector in January this year.
“It clearly shows that the MSM is recovering from the financial crunch and the current higher oil prices have helped investor confidence,” Al Masroori added.
Higher oil prices have also helped the Oman market, he said.
Al Masroori said the fund is mostly invested in the “undervalued but fundamentally good companies.”
The bourse shed more than 44pc last year after investors tightened their pockets over the impact of declining oil prices, which stood at $55 per barrel when the fund was announced.
The oil price is currently at around $73 per barrel, trading way above the $45 per barrel Oman has based its this year’s budget on.
Al Masroori declined to say how much money from the fund total has been invested so far and in what time frame. “The fund’s managers have the discretion how much to invest daily or weekly… it is not based on the frequency but rather the demand of the market,” he said.
Bank Muscat and Oman Arab Bank were appointed by the government as the fund managers and National Bank of Oman as the custodian.
–Agencies–