Muscat – Mubasher: Muscat Securities Market benchmark index moved to the positive territory at the close of Thursday’s session, following jittery performance during the day.

The index MSM30 rose 0.23% or 14.91 points to close at 6,443 points, amid a rally in financial stocks.

Meanwhile, Sharia index inched lower to 993.52 points.

The financials sector was the top gainer, with 0.33%.

Thursday’s turnover amounted to OMR 5.928 million, up from OMR 3.236 million on Wednesday. Traded volume also increased to 23.645 million shares from 14.425 million shares.

Out of the 45 securities traded today, advancers outnumbered decliners by 23 to 8, while 14 others remained unchanged.

As for stocks, Al Sharqiya Investment was the best performer (+4.96%), while Oman Cement was the biggest drag (-0.76%).

Phoenix was the top active with a traded volume of 7.071 million shares, exchanged at a value reaching OMR 1.074 billion.