Market ends week in positive territory

The local stock market registered gains during the week (25 April-2 May 2016).The SEMDEX and the SEMTRI jumped by 1.2% at the end of the days under review.

The Total Return Index, SEMTRI, grew by 71.56 points in one week, ending the session of Monday 2^nd May 2016 at 6,052.52 points. The All-share index, SEMDEX, closed the same session at 1,784.70 points against 1,763.60 points. The SEM-10 Index, which comprises the ten largest and most liquid stocks, finished at 343.08 points. The SEM sustainability index, SEMSI, ended the same day at 99.22 points. The market capitalisation stood at Rs 201.86 billion at market close on Monday.

Total transactions during the week amounted to Rs 172.3 million. The top five traded securities were: MCB Group Ltd (MCBG), Phoenix Beverages Ltd (PBL), Lux Island Resorts Ltd (LUX), SBM Holdings Ltd (SBMH) and New Mauritius Hotels Ltd (NMHL). They were exchanged for a total value of Rs 78.7 million, Rs 18.9 million, Rs 16.4 million, Rs 16.2 million and Rs 7.4 million respectively. The shares of MCBG, PBL, LUX, SBMH and NMHL closed at Rs 211.00, Rs 358.00, Rs 59.75, Re 0.64 and Rs 22.00 on Monday 2^nd May 2016.

An analysis of the evolution of the prices of listed stocks indicates that out of the 59 stocks figuring on the Official List, 16 moved up during the week, 37 remained stable and 6 went down. The best performing stocks for the week were: New Mauritius Hotels Ltd (+7.32%), Air Mauritius Ltd (+4.62%), CIM Financial Services Ltd (+3.28%), Lux Island Resorts Ltd (+3.02%) and New Mauritius Hotels Ltd (P) (+2.25%). The worst performers were: The Mauritius Development Investment Trust Ltd (-2.44%), Gamma-Civic Ltd (-2.13%), Lottotech Ltd (- 0.85%), Ireland Blyth Ltd (-0.63%) and Alteo Ltd (-0.36%).

The following data highlights the ten best performing stocks in terms of annualised total returns since their listing on the stock exchange.

On the Development & Enterprise Market (DEM), at market close on Monday, the two indices, the DEMEX and the DEMTRI, closed at 198.04 points and 252.48 points respectively. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 45.12 billion. A total volume of 899,573 shares for a total value of Rs 18.4 million has been traded during the week. The ten best performers in terms of annualised total return since listing are: Margarine Industries Ltd, United Bus Service Ltd, Associated Commercial Ltd, ABC Motors Ltd, Swan Life Ltd, Phoenix Investment Co Ltd, Livestock Feed Ltd (O), Morning Light Ltd, The Bee Equity Partners Ltd and Les Moulins de La Concorde Ltée (Ordinary). The total return varies from 20.39% to 35.94%.

On the international front, the financial markets ended on a negative note. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ went down 1.28% and 2.67% respectively during the week. In Europe, Britain FTSE-100, Germany DAX and France CAC-40 lost 1.09%, 3.22% and 3.08% respectively during the same time frame.