Local market finishes up

The local stock market ended the week on a positive note. The SEMDEX and the SEMTRI moved up by 1.04% and 1.05% respectively at the end of the days under review (11-18 January 2016).

The Total Return Index, SEMTRI, closed the session of Monday 18 January 2016 at 6,139.02 points, gaining 63.83 points in one week. The All-share index, SEMDEX closed the same session at 1,817.04 points. The SEM-10 Index, which comprises the ten largest and most liquid stocks, closed at 348.36 points. The SEM sustainability index, SEMSI, ended the same day at 96.61 points. The market capitalisation stood at Rs 202.36 billion at market close on Monday.

Total transactions amounted to Rs 223.4 million during the week. The top five traded securities were: MCB Group Ltd (MCBG), SBM Holdings Ltd (SBMH), New Mauritius Hotels Ltd (NMHL), Lux Island Resorts Ltd and Caudan Development Ltd (CAUD). They were exchanged for a total value of Rs 99.3 million, Rs 63.1 million, Rs 18.5 million, Rs 6.4 million and Rs 5.9 million respectively. The shares of MCBG, SBMH, NMHL, Lux and CAUD closed at Rs 203.75, Rs 0.70, Rs 20.00, Rs 60.00 and Rs 1.22 on Monday 18 January 2016.

An analysis of the evolution of the prices of listed stocks indicates that out of the 56 stocks figuring on the Official List, 13 moved up during the week, 30 remained stable and 13 went down. The best performing stocks for the week were: New Mauritius Hotels Ltd (+15.61%), ENL Land Ltd (+8.15%), Promotion and Development Ltd (+4.40%), BlueLife Ltd (+3.93%) and Ireland Blyth Ltd (+3.77%). The worst performers were: New Mauritius Hotels Ltd (P) (-7.39%), Mauritius Oil Refineries (-3.85%), Gamma-Civic Ltd (-2%), Phoenix Beverages Ltd (-1.70%) and Lottotech Ltd (-1.41%).

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, ended at 198.11 points and 251.79 points respectively. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 49.13 billion. A total volume of 467,487 shares for a total value of Rs 15.5 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, Livestock Feed Ltd (O), Morning Light Ltd, United Investments Ltd and Les Moulins de la Concorde Ltée (O). The total return varies from 18.95% to 37.21%.

On the international front, the financial markets ended the week in negative territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ went down 2.19% and 3.34% respectively in one week. In Europe, Germany DAX, London FTSE-100 and France CAC-40 registered a loss of 3.09%, 1.83% and 2.85% respectively during the same time frame.