Oman's RO150 million ($390 million) market-marker fund will start its operations next week to help shore up the bourse, according to the bourse chairman.

"The fund will be released on Sunday, the start of the trading week," Rashid al-Masroori, chairman of the fund set up by the government together with the private sector, told Reuters.

Masroori was speaking on the sidelines of a signing ceremony with Bank Muscat and Oman Arab Bank as fund managers.

Oman said in November it would create the fund in partnership with the private sector to stabilise a market roiled by the global financial crisis. The bourse fell more than 44 percent last year.-Reuters