Mixed fortunes for MSE

The Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) was bullish in the first quarter (Q1) as it registered a positive return on investment of 0.53 percent despite a decrease in both volume of and value of traded shares, a market report shows.

The performance was seen in the upward movement of the Malawi All Share Index (Masi)—the measure of local shares market performance—from 32392.84 points registered in January to 32562.96 points in March, according to the market performance report for first quarter (Q1).

Reads the report: “The price gains registered on FMBCH at 23.05 percent, Standard Bank Malawi plc at 14.68 percent, FDH Bank plc at 14.12 percent, NBS Bank plc at 6.48 percent and NBM plc at 0.01 percent were not enough to offset share price losses registered by 11 counters.”

In the quarterly report released on Friday, the MSE said TNM plc, BHL, Sunbird Tourism plc, Press Corporation plc, Icon Properties, Mpico, Nico Holdings plc, OMU, Airtel Malawi plc, Illovo Sugar Malawi plc and Nitl registered share price losses of -18.34 percent,-14.99 percent,-14.29 percent, -8.36 percent, 0.73 percent, -0.52 percent, -0.13 percent,-0.45 percent, -0.11 percent, 0.02 percent and -0.01 percent.

During the review period, the market transacted 32.2 million shares at K1.19 billion in 587 trades, lower than 70 million shares transacted at K1.822 billion in 761 trades in the corresponding period of 2019 which reflects an 83.15 percent decrease in volume and an 87.13 percent decrease in value.

Reads the report in part: “Daily average share trades exhibited similar trends where the market registered an average daily volume of 511 398 shares in Q1 2021 compared to 1.14 million shares traded in the corresponding Q1 2020 reflecting a decrease of –55.27 percent.

“The average daily turnover for Q1 2021 was K1.89 million compared with K29.39 million for the corresponding Q1 2020, reflecting a decrease of –35.73percent.”

In terms of market capitalisation, it increased in kwacha terms from K1.75 million in January 2021 to K1.77 million in March 2021.

It, however, decreased in dollar terms from $2.280.38 million (K1.7 billion) to $2.253.19 million (K2 billion) as a result of the depreciation of the kwacha in the period under review.

Market analysts say the MSE performance is anticipated due to the fact that business conditions have not been mixed as some companies are impacted in one way or the other due to the Covid -19 pandemic.

Stockbrokers Malawi Limited chief executive officer Noel Kadzakumanja in a recent interview noted that the improved performance from some counters, which indicated that they would post profits, has a bearing on market activity.

MSE operations manager Kelline Kanyangala in a recent interview indicated that some companies’ published trading statements also indicated that statements from companies do impact on the performance of the MSE.