Market’s slide continues during the week

The local stock market again lost ground during the week (14-21 March 2016). The SEMDEX and the SEMTRI went down -1.22% respectively at the end of the days under review.

The Total Return Index, SEMTRI, registered a fall of 74.62 points during the week, closing the session of Monday 21^st March 2016 at 6,053.21 points. The All-share index, SEMDEX closed the same session at 1,787.24 points. The SEM-10 Index, which comprises the ten largest and most liquid stocks, closed at 343.62 points. The SEM sustainability index, SEMSI, ended the same day at 98 points. The market capitalisation stood at Rs 202.15 billion at market close on Monday.

Total transactions during the week amounted to Rs 214 million. The top five traded securities were: MCB Group Ltd (MCBG), Rockcastle Real Estate Co. Ltd (ROCK), SBM Holdings Ltd (SBMH), LUX* Island Resorts Ltd (Lux) and Mauritius Union Assurance Co. Ltd Notes (MUA Notes). They were exchanged for a total value of Rs 74.2 million, Rs 46.6 million, Rs 11.6 million, Rs 8.6 million and Rs 8.3 million respectively. The shares of MCBG, ROCK, SBMH, Lux and MUA Notes closed at Rs 206.75, USD 2.31, Rs 0.65, Rs 57.75 and Rs 10,504.88 on Monday 21^st March 2016.

An analysis of the evolution of the prices of listed stocks indicates that out of the 57 stocks figuring on the Official List, 4 moved up during the week, 29 remained stable and 25 went down. The best performing stocks for the week were: Automatic Systems Ltd (+9.41%), Lottotech Ltd (+3.38%), ENL Land Ltd Preference (+3.19%) and Mauritius Oil Refineries Ltd (+0.40%). The worst performers were: POLICY Ltd (-10.18%), ENL Commercial Ltd (-6.25), Omnicane Ltd (-5.38%), BlueLife Limited (-4.35%) and Plastic Industry (Mauritius) Ltd (- 3.23%).

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 197.48 points and 251.19 points respectively. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 44.93 billion. A total volume of 281,799 shares for a total value of Rs 8.6 million has been traded during the week. The ten best performers in terms of annualised return since listing are: Margarine Industries Ltd, United Bus Service Ltd, Associated Commercial Ltd, ABC Motors Ltd, Phoenix Investment Company Ltd, Livestock Feed Ltd (O), Swan Life Ltd, Morning Light Ltd, The Bee Equity Partners Ltd and Les Moulins de la Concorde Ltd. The total return varies from 20.86% to 36.44%.

On the international front, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ went up 2.26% and 0.99% respectively in one week. In Europe, France CAC-40 registered a loss of 0.67% during the week whilst Germany DAX and London FTSE-100 gained 1.22% and 0.81% during the same time frame.