Stock market in buoyant performance in October
The Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) registered a buoyant performance in October as reflected in the upward movement of the benchmark Malawi All Share Index (Masi).
MSE operations manager Esnart Chilije said on Tuesday that they expect the 13-counter market to close the year with a bullish performance.
According to the MSE October 2017 market performance report, Masi—the overall measure of market performance— went up from 19 920.42 points in September 2017 to 20 049.06 points registered in October 2017, giving a return on index of 0.65 percent.
The report indicates that during the month under review, the market transacted a total of 60 346 580 shares at K2 108 221 256.74 ($2 905 267.43) in 117 trades, a decline from 83 482 149 shares at K1 325 916 804.33 ($1 827 200.49) in 126 trades the previous month.
This represents a 27.71 decrease in terms of share volume and a 59 percent increase in share value, according to the report.
Reads the report in part: “Daily average share trades exhibited similar trends where the market registered an average daily volume of 2 873 647 shares compared to 3 975 340 shares traded in September 2017.
“The average daily turnover for October 2017 was K100 391 488.42 [$138,346.07] compared with K63 138 895.44 ($87 009.55) in September 2017, reflecting an increase of 59 percent.”
According to the report, top five traded stocks by volume Nico Holdings Plc, TNM Plc, NBS Bank Plc, FMB Capital Holdings (FMBCH) Plc and Mpico Limited Plc.
On the other hand, Nico Holdings, FMBCH, Press Corporation Plc, National Bank of Malawi Plc and TNM were top five traded stocks by value during the month under review.
Market capitalisation increased from K983 billion (about $1.3 billion) in September 2017 to K989.6 billion ($1.36 billion) in October 2017.
In an interview, Chilije said with the positive performance that the local bourse has been registering over the past six months, they expect to close the year with a bullish performance.
She said: “Most of the movements have happened in the past six months and we expect this to continue going forward. Looking at the positive half-year performance results of listed companies whose financial year ends in December, we are positive the exchange will close on a positive note.
“Again, despite trading fewer shares, we still did well in value because some counter had their prices went up during the period under review which off-set the decline in the number of shares traded.” n
