MSE shines on regional level

Although the prior week was tough on African markets with most of the markets in the region closing on negative territories, Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) triumphed along with Tunisia, an African Markets weekly commentary shows.

An African Markets, a platform which aggregates news stories for 17 African stock markets, and provides data and snapshots of the main companies listed on the continent, rated Malawi as a second best performer in the week after Tunisia.

In the week under review, the Malawi All Share Index (Masi)—a barometer for measuring average performance of all the shares listed on the local shares market  gained some 2.9 percent over the week which opened at 28 280 on Friday May 18 and closed at 29 109 on Friday May 25.

The rise in the Masi was necessitated by gains in FMB Capital Holdings (FMBCH), National Bank of Malawi (NBM), National Investment Trust Limited (Nitl), Press Corporation Limited (PCL), Sunbird Tourism Limited, Old Mutual Limited (OML).

Market analyst Armstrong Kamphoni notes that the positive performance of the stock market could be due to the growing awareness of the market as demand for shares is pushing the prices up; hence, the index.

“In the week there were no shares whose price fell over the week as the rest remained flat.  These increases translated into the rise in the index. This means there is more demand for shares on the MSE as a lot of investors see value in the companies listed on the MSE,” he explained.

In an interview, MSE chief executive officer John Kamanga said the performance shows that the local bourse is moving in the right direction.