Nico, Illovo up the market

Share price gains in two counters, Illovo Sugar (Malawi) Limited and Nico Holdings Limited, brought activity on the Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) last week pushing up the indicative all share index by 96.85 points.

According to a weekly market report, Illovo gained K5 to close the week at K145 per share whereas Nico added 50 tambala to its price to end the week at K12.50 per share.

The Domestic Share Index (DSI), the measure of local counters’ performance, went up 77.32 points moved by share price gains in the two counters.

But the Foreign Share Index (FSI), anchored by one foreign counter, Old Mutual plc (OML), remained steady at 576.90 points, the report shows.

During the week, six counters namely; FMB, lllovo, National Bank of Malawi (NBM), NBS Bank, Nico Holdings and National Investment Trust Limited (NITL) recorded trading activity.

The activity resulted in the local shares market raising K72.2 million ($435 729.11) out of 2.1 million shares changing hands in 17 deals, according to the report.

Market analysts at FDH Stockbrokers Malawi Limited said demand for the sugar manufacturer stock is still high.

In the week, NBM traded the highest value of shares at K22 million but NBS Bank traded the highest volume of shares at 520 000 trading K12.50 per share.

The local equity market has 14 counters.