Stock market raises K359m
Amid continued demand for shares on the Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE), the 14-counter local shares market raised K359 million [$941 234.70] last week with seven counters gaining value.
The MSE weekly market report for the week ending October 11 2013, shows that the indicative Malawi All Share Index (Masi) went up by 988.26 points due to a rise in both the domestic share index, the gauge of domestic counters’ performance, and foreign share index, anchored by one stock, Old Mutual plc (OML).
The upward surge on the three indices is on account of share price gains in Illovo Sugar (Malawi) Limited, National Bank of Malawi (NBM), NBS Bank, Press Corporation Limited (PCL), Standard Bank, TNM plc and OML.
Illovo, in the week, gained K4 to close the week at K250 per share, NBM added K33.45 to K207 and NBS Bank gained 98 tambala to end the week at K13.98 per share, according to the market report.
Conglomerate PCL added K84.55 to close the week at K284.55 per share, Standard Bank jumped by K51.35 to K350 per share while TNM gained a paltry 19 tambala to K2.19 per share.
OML was the largest gainer of the week, adding K308.50 to its share price to close at K1 340 per share.
On the contrary, FMB lost K1 to close the week at K18 per share, but the drop was not enough to offset the gains triggered by the gain in seven counters, the report shows.
A market analysis from FDH Stockbrokers Limited indicates that the scarcity of PCL and NBS Bank stocks contributed to the price jump on both counters.
In the third quarter (July—August) of 2013, the MSE remained buoyant thanks to good half year results most of the listed companies published, according to a market analyst.
The shares market gave a return on index of 53.18 percent (36.96 percent in dollar terms) compared to -0.63 percent (-8.25 percent in dollar terms) in the prior period in 2012.
Market analyst, Nelson Mkwende, who is also manager at FDH Stockbrokers Limited, earlier told Business Newsthat with the better than expected half year results, most companies paid out good dividends.
“Demand for shares was up for most of the companies. We ended up with more buyers than sellers,” explained Mkwende.
He said economic fundamentals—inflation, interest and exchange rates—were conducive during the quarter under review.
Mkwende said, during the period, there was relatively less moping of the excess kwacha by the Reserve Bank of Malawi (RBM) and this, in a way, provided a chance to fund managers to have money for investment in assets such as stocks.
