Stock market trade sends indices up 0.4%
The local shares market closed in a bullish trade last week with five counters registering price gains, sending the 14-counter market’s three indices upwards by an average 0.4 percent.
A weekly market wrap from FDH Stockbrokers Limited shows that share price gains in National Bank of Malawi (NBM), NBS Bank, National Investment Trust Limited (Nitl), Sunbird and Old Mutual Limited (OML) pushed upwards the indicative Malawi All Share Index (Masi) by 38.29 points or 0.54 percent to close at 7125.41 points
This was a result of the increase in the Domestic Share Index (DSI) and Foreign Share Index (FSI), anchored by OML, by 30.45 points or 0.55 percent from 5 556.17 points to 5 586.62 points and by 1.26 points or 0.11 percent from 1 131.18 points to 1 132.44 points respectively.
During the week, NBM with 6 721 shares traded gained K2.12 to close the week at K69.32, NBS with 1.7 million shares changing hands gained 82 tambala to K10.00 and Nitl with 58 000 shares trading closed at K17.54 with a paltry four tambala gain.
Hotel chain Sunbird inched up by seven tambala to K6.57 and OML registered a marginal K1.00 gain to close at K901.00.
In all, the Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) registered trade in nine counters; FMB, Mpico Limited, NBM, NBS Bank, Nitl, Press Corporation Limited, Sunbird, TNM and OML raising K62 million ($187 345.94) out of 12.1 million shares.
Despite not registering share price gain, Mpico traded the highest number of shares at 5.4 million, suggesting strong demand for the counter, followed by Sunbird at 4.4 million with the least NBM at 6 721 shares.
Most of the companies have issued trading statements, indicating that their half-year profits will be higher than those of the prior period in 2012.
MSE head of operation John Kamanga said there has been a pick-up in demand for stocks, particularly in the financial sector, suggesting that confidence on the equity market has been built which will trigger investors to plough back into the stock market.
