Market’s slide continues during the week

The local stock market again lost ground during the week (15-22 February 2016). The SEMDEX and the SEMTRI went down -1.62% and 1.59% respectively at the end of the days under review.

The Total Return Index, SEMTRI, closed the session of Monday 22^nd February 2016 at 6,154.94 points, losing 99.72 points in one week. The All-share index, SEMDEX, closed the same session at 1,818.83 points, registering a fall of 29.88 points during the same time frame. The SEM-10 Index, which comprises the ten largest and most liquid stocks, closed at 347.95 points. The SEM sustainability index, SEMSI, ended the same day at 98.50 points. The market capitalisation stood at Rs 205.72 billion at market close on Monday.

Total transactions amounted to Rs 1.8 billion during the week. The top five traded securities were: New Mauritius Hotels Ltd (NMHL), MCB Group Ltd (MCBG), New Mauritius Hotels Ltd (Preference) (NMHL P), Mauritius Union Assurance Co. Ltd Notes (MUA Notes) and SBM Holdings Ltd (SBMH). They were exchanged for a total value of Rs 1.3 billion, Rs 190.7 million, Rs 80.1 million, Rs 42 million and Rs 23.9 million respectively. The shares of NMHL, MCBG, NMHL (P), MUA Notes and SBMH closed at Rs 21.95, Rs 206.00, Rs 11.15, Rs 10,507.91 and Rs 0.67 on Monday 22^nd February 2016.

An analysis of the evolution of the prices of listed stocks indicates that out of the 57 stocks figuring on the Official List, 10 moved up during the week, 27 remained stable and 20 went down. The best performing stocks for the week were: Air Mauritius Ltd (+6.56%), Rockcastle Global Real Estate Co. Ltd (+6.36%), Innodis Ltd (+4.88%), New Mauritius Hotels Ltd (P) (+4.69%) and Mauritius Union Assurance Co. Ltd (+3.39%). The worst performers were: New Mauritius Hotels Ltd (-11.85%), Sun Resorts Ltd (-6.76), BlueLife Ltd (-5.41%), ENL Land Ltd (-3.06%) and Promotion and Development Ltd (-3.06%).

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 199.63 points and 253.76 points respectively. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 45.42 billion. A total volume of 2.8 million shares for a total value of Rs 69.8 million has been traded during the week. The ten best performers in terms of annualised return since listing are: Margarine Industries Ltd, Associated Commercial Ltd, United Bus Service Ltd, ABC Motors Ltd, Phoenix Investment Company Ltd, Swan Life Ltd, The Bee Equity Partners Ltd, Livestock Feed Ltd (O), Morning Light Ltd and United Investments Ltd. The total return varies from 21.57% to 36.78%.

On the international front, the financial markets ended the week in positive territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ went up 2.62% and 3.85% respectively in one week. In Europe, Germany DAX, London FTSE-100 and France CAC-40 registered a gain of 4.69%, 4.25% and 5.71% respectively during the same time frame.