Market ends week in negative territory

The local stock market ended the week in negative territory.The SEMDEX and the SEMTRI dropped -0.84% and -0.82% respectively at the end of the days under review (2-9 February 2015).

The All share index, SEMDEX, lost 16.92 points during the week, closing the session of Monday 9^th February 2015 at 1,990.82 points. The Total Return Index, SEMTRI, closed the same session at 6,528.16 points, registering a loss of 53.74 points in one week. The SEM-10 index, which comprises the ten largest and most liquid stocks, closed at 369.74 points. The market capitalisation stood Rs 221.33 billion at market close on Monday.

Total transactions during the week amounted to Rs 276.9 million. The top five traded securities during the week were: New Mauritius Hotels Ltd (NMHL), CIEL Limited (CIEL), MCB Group Limited (MCBG), Mauritian Eagle Insurance Ltd (MEI) and SBM Holdings Ltd (SBMH). They were exchanged for a total value of Rs 92.3 million, Rs 38.3 million, Rs 25.1 million, Rs 20.3 million and Rs 18.1 million. The shares of NMHL, CIEL, MCBG, MEI and SBMH closed at Rs 66.75, Rs 6.94, Rs 197.50, Rs 108.75 and Rs 1 on 9^th February 2015.

An analysis of the evolution of the prices of listed stocks indicates that out of the 51 stocks figuring on the Official List, 7 moved up during the week, 24 remained stable and 20 went down. The best performing stocks for the week were: Go Life International PCC Ltd (+66.67%), Rockcastle Real Estate Co. Ltd (+5.13%), Mauritius Union Assurance Ltd (+2.67%), Fincorp Investment Ltd (+1.82%) and Rogers & Co. Ltd (+1.40%). The worst performers were: New Mauritius Hotels Ltd (-4.64%), BlueLife Ltd (-4%), POLICY Ltd (-4%), Alteo Ltd (-2.90%) and LUX* Island Resorts Ltd (-2.83%).

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, finished at 199.45 points and 247 points respectively. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 47.14 billion. A total volume of 741,219 shares for a total value of Rs 43.21 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, Morning Light Ltd, Livestock Feed Ltd (O), Anglo Mauritius Assurance Society Ltd, United Investments Ltd, Phoenix Investment Co Ltd and The Union Sugar Estates Ltd. The total return varies from 22.64% to 41.19%.

On the international front, the financial markets ended the week on a positive note. For the week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ Composite went up 4.17% and 2.36% respectively. In Europe, Germany DAX, Britain FTSE-100 and France CAC-40 gained 1.97%, 1.73% and 2.15% respectively during the same time frame.