Muscat: The Financial Sector Index of the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX) recorded its best level in 18 years last week, closing the weekly trading session at 13,383 points.

According to Qatar News Agency, the sector index rose to 13,000 points last April, marking its best level since August 26, 2008. The index's gains remained limited over the past several months until it managed to climb above the 13,300-point level on August 24.

The sector index reached its peak on June 8, 2008, surpassing 16,200 points, but subsequently underwent a wave of decline that prompted it to relinquish many of the record levels it had previously posted.

As for the other indices, the MSX Main Index rose 9 points, closing the weekly trading session at 7,532 points. The Industrial Sector Index gained 70 points, while the Sharia Index rose by around 4 points. Meanwhile, the Services Sector Index fell 3 points and closed at 3,014 points.

The market capitalization of securities listed on MSX recorded limited losses of OMR 8.7 million last week, closing at OMR 38.3214 billion. Trading value tumbled last week, which comprised four trading days, to OMR 113.2 million, compared with OMR 252.1 million in the previous week. The number of executed transactions also declined by 27% to 31,095.