Wednesday 02 / September / 2026
Muscat: The MSX 30 Index bounced back to growth during August 2026 with 4.5% increase to close the month at 7,604.01 points, according to a new report. “The monthly growth increased the year-to-date (YTD) 2026 performance to 29.6% the highest among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) markets,” the Kuwait-based Kamco Invest said in its ‘GCC Markets Monthly Report August 2026’.
In terms of sectoral performance, the overall gain was comprehensive as all three indices recorded increases during August-2026. The Services Index registered the biggest growth at (+5.9%) to close the month at 3,060.38 points, followed by the Financial Index with (+3.6%) and the Industrial Index with (+1.6%).
The report further said that in terms of company performance, Al Batinah Development & Investment Holding Company topped the gainers list with a share price jump of 23.3%. Abraj Energy Services and Oman Chromite Co. were next on the gainers chart with monthly gains of 16.5% and 15.2%, respectively.
On the decliners' side, National Aluminium Products Co led the chart with a 50% share price decline, followed by Salalah Mills and Salalah Port Services Co. which witnessed share price drops of 10.6% and 9.8%, respectively, Kamco Invest said in its report.
Abraj Energy Services recently reported an expansion in its Kuwait operations with stable first half of 2026 net income, utilisation rate with record backlog record.
Trading activity on the exchange increased during August-2026 as compared to the previous month. “The total volume of shares traded increased by 3.5% to 3.5 billion shares in August-2026, compared to 3.3 billion shares in July-2026. The total value traded on the exchange also increased by 6.1% to OMR0.98 billion, up from OMR0.92 billion in the previous month,” the report added.
Sohar International Bank topped the monthly value traded chart with transactions totalling OMR173.8 million, followed by OQ Base Industries and Bank Muscat, with total values traded of OMR167.4 million and OMR 164.3 million, respectively. In terms of monthly volume traded, Sohar International Bank again led the list with 951 million shares, followed by OQ Base Industries and OQ Gas Networks with volumes of 663.9 million shares and 482.6 million shares, respectively.
Economic news
In economic news, the Oman's public revenues increased by 13% to approximately OMR6.602 billion by the end of second quarter (Q2) 2026, up from roughly OMR5.8 billion during the same period last year, mainly driven by higher oil revenues.
Moreover, Oman's total public expenditure reached approximately OMR6.6 billion, an increase of 9% as compared with OMR6.1 billion in the corresponding period of 2025, according to data published by the Omani government.
Meanwhile, net oil revenues increased by 10% by the end of Q2 to reach roughly OMR3.3 billion, as compared with OMR3billion during the same period in 2025. On the other hand, the Sultanate's total public debt witnessed slight growth, reaching OMR14.16 billion by the end of Q2-2026 as compared to OMR14.12 billion during Q2-2025.
The report further said that in terms of governmental spending, Oman's subsidies allocated to the social protection system reached OMR323 million by the end of Q2 2026, while electricity and petroleum product subsidies reached OMR288 and OMR162 million, respectively. The Sultanate's GDP in real terms increased by 2.6% year0on-year (y-o-y) during Q1- 2026 to OMR9.7 billion, mainly due to expansion in oil activities, according to governmental data. Oil activities represented OMR3.04 billion after improving 4.6% y-o-y, while non-oil activities accounted for OMR7.04 billion, registering 2.4% y-o-y growth during the same period.
GCC markets
Meanwhile, GCC equity markets also witnessed steady recovery during August-2026 led by stabilising geopolitical situation in the Middle East region. The rally was also supported by a broad-based gain in global equity markets after posting a healthy earnings season.
The MSCI GCC index broke a three-month losing streak and gained 3.9% during August-2026, the biggest monthly gain in seven months backed by gains recorded by most of the exchanges in the region. Saudi Arabia was the best performing market in the region during the month with a gain of 5.1%, also the biggest monthly gain since January-2026, followed by Kuwait with gains of 1.6%. On the other hand, Qatar and Bahrain benchmarks witnessed declines of 1.1% and 1.0%, respectively, during the month.
The monthly sector performance chart also reflected the broad-based gains with almost all the GCC sectors registering gains during the month. The Hotels & Leisure sector gained almost 10% followed by Materials and Insurance sectors with gains of 8.2% and 7.5%, respectively. Large-cap sectors like Telecom and Banks showed gains of 5.0% and 4.7%, respectively while the Energy sector showed relatively smaller gain of 1.2%.
Global equities also finished August-2026 with gains across most major equity markets resulting in a 2.6% gain in the MSCI World Index. After two consecutive months of declines, the S&P 500 index touched a record high by mid-month but receded partially month end on profit booking and closed with a gain of 2.6%. However, the latest comments from the Fed Chair on a possible rate hike by September-2026 sent global bond yields to the highest since 2008 by month end while equity markets declined.
