We don’t really know whether this is a good time or a bad time to do an article on the MSM, but no doubt these are interesting times. At the time of going to press, news that came in from next door was a bit disconcerting, to put it mildly. For the significant Indian expatriate population in Oman, you may be slightly less traumatised over losing money on the Sensex, when you hear that in just seven trading sessions (in the third week of January), India’s top ten promoters have together lost over US$68bn in the crash. A top financial paper noted that these included the likes of Anil Ambani, Mukesh Ambani, the Tatas and so on. From a market capitalisation of US$734bn on January 11, at close of trade on January 22, this figure stood at US$580bn.

While not as dramatic, reports are equally gloomy from the European, American and other Asian markets. Here in Oman, while there has been a gentle slide as we were putting together the final pages of this issue, it may have recovered dramatically by the time you have BusinessToday in your hands. And that is exactly the direction that financial experts and analysts believe the index is headed. Up. There has been talk about a correction of sorts, which may be three to four per cent and some say, there is a possibility of even an eight to nine per cent correction; but none of this is going to come in the way of a steady, upwardly mobile index.

The real estate boom, in particular, shows no signs of slowing down but there have been increasing murmurs of speculative trends, which may also result in some of the excess liquidity finding its way to the stock market. Add to this, a part, (if not half as suggested by one of our interviewees), of the RO1bn earmarked for pension funds in the 2008 budget is expected to find its way, directly or indirectly to the stockmarket. In short, everyone we interviewed said there was no stopping the ascent.

In keeping with the optimistic times, we have compiled stock picks, investment options and advice from experts to give you a chance to cash in on the buoyant economy. Read on and make your decisions.

Mohana Prabhakar
mohana@apexstuff.com
Managing editor