Local market maintains its upward trend

The local stock market maintained its upward trend during the week. The SEMDEX and the SEMTRI gained 0.67% and 0.81 respectively at the end of the days under review (2-9 February 2016).

The Total Return Index, SEMTRI, gained 50.70 points during the week, closing the session of Tuesday 9 February 2016 at 6,310.39 points. The All-share index, SEMDEX, closed the same session at 1,865.19 points, growing by 12.43 points in one week. The SEM-10 Index, which comprises the ten largest and most liquid stocks, closed at 359.25 points. The SEM sustainability index, SEMSI, ended the same day at 99.23 points. The market capitalisation stood at Rs 207.74 billion at market close on Tuesday.

Total transactions amounted to Rs 249.8 million during the week. The top five traded securities were: MCB Group Ltd (MCBG), SBM Holdings Ltd (SBMH), New Mauritius Hotels Ltd (NMHL), New Mauritius Hotels EUR Notes and Ireland Blyth Ltd (IBL). They were exchanged for a total value of Rs 128.7 million, Rs 30.1 million, Rs 19.5 million, Rs 11.7 million and Rs 11.1 million respectively. The shares of MCBG, SBMH, NMHL, NMHL Euro Notes and IBL closed at Rs 210.50, Rs 0.70, Rs 25.70, EUR 978.86 and Rs 118 on Tuesday 9 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, 12 moved up during the week, 32 remained stable and 13 went down. The best performing stocks for the week were: Sun Resorts Ltd (+11.05%), New Mauritius Hotels Ltd (+7.98%), ENL Land Ltd (P) (+3.83%), SBM Holdings Ltd (+2.94%) and Air Mauritius Ltd (+2.20%). The worst performers were: BlueLife Limited (-10.40%), Ireland Blyth Ltd (-10.10), Promotion and Development Ltd (-3.45%), Mauritius Union Assurance (-3.28%) and Gamma-Civic Ltd (-1.64%).

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 Tuesday, the two indices, the DEMEX and the DEMTRI, closed at 199.30 points and 253.34 points respectively. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 45.35 billion. A total volume of 427,780 shares for a total value of Rs 11.7 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, The Bee Equity Partners Ltd, Phoenix Investment Company Ltd, Livestock Feed Ltd (O), Swan Life Ltd, Morning Light Ltd and United Investments Ltd. The total return varies from 21.97% to 36.94%.

On the international front, the financial markets ended the week in negative territory. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ went down 2.57% and 7.29% respectively in one week. In Europe, Germany DAX, London FTSE-100 and France CAC-40 registered a loss of 7.98%, 6.12% and 7.42% respectively during the same time frame.