Year in review
In 2023, the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) achieved many milestones and launched several initiatives that helped to diversify the exchange by helping to create liquidity in the market and diversify disclosures. These initiatives include:
1.A series of initiatives in partnership with the National Program for Financial Sustainability and Development of the Financial Sector (Estidamah) to enhance the position of the Exchange and promote investment in it.
2.MSX joined the "Tabadul" platform, which is a regional initiative that aims to facilitate cross-border trading of securities between Muscat Stock Exchange and other stock exchanges in the region. This will help to increase the liquidity and accessibility of MSX -listed securities to investors in the region.
3.MSX launched a unified guide to ESG standards, which sets out the requirements for companies to disclose their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. This will help to improve the transparency of ESG information for investors and other stakeholders.
4.It also launched an ESG disclosure platform to provide companies with guidance on how to comply with the unified ESG standards. The platform enables companies to disclose their ESG performance to investors and other stakeholders.
5.MSX has launched market making and liquidity provider activities to increase the liquidity of MSX -listed securities. Market makers and liquidity providers are responsible for providing bids and offers for securities, which helps to ensure that there is always a buyer or seller available.
6.Omantel and Sohar International Bank have signed liquidity provider agreements with United Securities Company and Ubar Capital, respectively.
7.The Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) successfully listed two companies in 2023, both of which were oversubscribed:
i)Abraj Energy Services was oversubscribed by more than 8 times.
ii)OQ Gas Networks was oversubscribed by more than 14 times.
This represents a significant achievement for the MSX, as it demonstrates the exchange's readiness to list companies of all sizes
In conclusion, these are the most important milestones achieved in 2023. There sure were challenges however, they were overcome by the desire to develop the exchange and improve the overall infrastructure of the Oman’s capital Market. We look forward to continue the journey and climb more summits of success in the year 2024 as well.