Market ends week on a mixed note

The local stock market finished the week on a mixed note. The SEM-ASI and the SEMTRI-ASI lost 0.21% and 0.17% respectively at the end of the days under review (6 - 13 March 2017).

The SEMDEX ended the session of Monday 13 March 2017 at 1,917.88 points, registering a slight fall of 0.36 points in one week. The Total Return Index, SEMTRI closed the same session at 6,698.49 points, growing by 2.67 points during the week. The SEM-ASI and the Total Return Index, SEMTRI-ASI, ended the session of Monday at 1,909.42 points and 6,593.30 points respectively. The SEM-10 Index, which comprises the ten largest and most liquid stocks, closed at 367.88 points. The SEM sustainability index, SEMSI, ended the same day at 104.02 points. The total market capitalisation of the SEM-ASI constituents stood at Rs 349.03 billion at market close on Monday.

Total transactions amounted to Rs 163.4 million during the week. The top five trading securities were: MCB Group Ltd (MCBG), SBM Holdings Ltd (SBMH), New Mauritius Hotels Ltd (NMHL), CIEL Limited (CIEL) and LUX Island Resorts Ltd (Lux). They were exchanged for a total value of Rs 51.3 million, Rs 26.3 million, Rs 18 million, Rs 9.4 million and Rs 5.3 million respectively. The shares of MCBG, SBMH, NMHL, CIEL and LUX closed at Rs 226.50, Rs 7.02, Rs 21.00, Rs 6.40 and Rs 58.25 respectively on Monday 13 March 2017.

An analysis of the evolution of the prices of listed stocks indicates that out of the 64 stocks figuring on the Official List, 18 moved up during the week, 35 remained stable and 11 went down. The best performing stocks for the week were: United Docks Ltd (+4%), Mauritius Oil Refineries Ltd (+3.70%), Sun Limited (+2.05%), National Investment Trust Ltd (+1.47%) and Gamma-Civic Ltd (+1.42%). The worst performers were: Mara Delta Property Holdings Ltd (-3.75%), Rogers & Co. Ltd (-2.65%), Omnicane Ltd (-2%), Harel Mallac Ltd (-1.52%) and Alteo Ltd (-1.48%).

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 207.62 points and 273 points respectively. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 48.35 billion. A total volume of 633,796 shares for a total value of Rs 19.2 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, Swan Life Ltd, Phoenix Investment Company Ltd, Livestock Feed Ltd (O), Les Moulins de la Concorde Ltd, Morning Light Ltd and The Bee Equity Partners Ltd. The total return varies from 19.11% to 32.85%.

On the international front, financial markets ended the week on a negative note. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ went down 0.49% and 0.15% respectively during the week. In Europe, Germany DAX, London FTSE-100 and France CAC-40 registered a loss of 0.53%, 0.42% and 0.04% respectively during the same time frame.