MSE Q3 value, volume down
Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) performance declined in third quarter (Q3) this year compared to last year, a trend that may indicate problems in investor confidence and the economy.
Economists and analysts often argue that the performance of stock market may show investor confidence in the general performance of the economy, measuring whether investors are ready to put money into the economy and wait for a future return or hold back on their investments.
However, the performance of MSE, in terms of both volume and value traded indicated a decline in this year’s third quarter compared to same period last year, according to the MSE Q3 report.
The report shows that from July to September this year, about six million shares were transacted down by about 92 percent from about 890 million shares traded during the same period last year.
Along with the decline in the number of shares traded during the period, the value of shares traded also fell by about 17 percent to K2.3 billion this year compared to K2.8 billion the previous year, according to MSE report.
Similarly, according to the report, daily average share trades also depicted similar trends as the market registered an average daily volume of about 1.1 million shares compared to 14.4 million shares traded in last year’s corresponding period.
The average daily turnover for 2014 Q4 stood at about K36.9 million compared with K44.6 million during the same period last year.
The local bourse has also indicated that the market liquidity and the ratio of value of trades to gross domestic product (GDP) also fell by a few percentage points during the period.
Regardless of the relatively poor performance of the MSE, share process for 11 out the 14 counters on the stock exchange gained.
Real Insurance Company of Malawi Limited and Mpico Limited share prices gained by over 90 percent while TNM, NBS Bank and Press Corporation Limited stock prices rose by an average of about 22 percent.
