The Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) says it registered a drop in total value of shares traded and volume in February compared to the month before, despite registering a positive return on index of 0.87 percent.
MSE monthly market report for February indicates that the positive return on index is reflected in the upward movement of the Malawi All Share Index (Masi) to 6 076.41 points on February 28 from 6 023.94 points on January 31 2013.
“The price gains registered by Illovo Sugar [Malawi] Limited, National Bank of Malawi, Standard Bank and Old Mutual plc were enough to offset the share price losses registered by National Investment Trust Limited and TNM plc.
“This resulted into an increase in both the foreign share index and the domestic share index by 13.24 points from 854.67 points to 967.79 points and by 0.67 points from 4732.24 points to 4763.98 points [-5.52% in dollar terms] respectively,” reads the report.
According to the report, 4.9 million shares changed hands between February 1 and 28 raising K90.2 million ($248 244.95) in 51 trades. In contrast, during the same period in 2012, the market transacted slightly over one million shares raising K19 million ($113 376.39).
But in January 2013, the market transacted a total of 20.1 million shares raking in of K167.7 million ($477 645.62) in 68 trades, reflecting a -75.16 percent increase in terms of share volume and -46.17 percent (-48.03 percent in dollar terms) decrease in share value.
In February, the average daily turnover was K4.2 million ($11 821.19) compared to K7.9 million ($22 745.03) in January, reflecting a decrease of -46.17 percent (-48.03 percent in dollar terms).
