Market maintains growth momentum

The local stock market maintained its growth momentum during the week under review (15 - 22 May 2017) and saw the total Return Index, SEMTRI setting a new record. The SEMTRI closed the session of Monday 22^nd May 2017 at a new record of 7,263.49 points, gaining 92.83 points in one week. The SEMDEX ended the same session at 2,072.28 points growing by 1.28% in one week.

Since the start of 2017, the SEMTRI and the SEMDEX have achieved a growth of 15.13% and 14.59% respectively. The SEM-10 Index, which comprises the ten largest and most liquid stocks, closed at 403.69 points. The SEM sustainability index, SEMSI, ended the same day at 112.16 points. The total market capitalisation of the SEM-ASI constituents stood at Rs 380.04 billion at market close on Monday.

Total transactions amounted to Rs 286.4 million during the week. The top five trading securities were: MCB Group Ltd (MCBG), SBM Holdings Ltd (SBMH), Rockcastle Real Estate Co. Ltd, ENL Land Ltd and CIM Financial Services Ltd (CIM). They were exchanged for a total value of Rs 65.1 million, Rs 44.8 million, Rs 39.1 million, Rs 37.2 million and Rs 25.6 million respectively. The shares of MCBG, SBMH, ROCK, ENL Land and CIM closed at Rs 250.00, Rs 7.60, USD 2.45, Rs 49.40 and Rs 8.98 on Monday 22^nd May 2017.

An analysis of the evolution of the prices of listed stocks indicates that out of the 64 stocks figuring on the Official List, 16 moved up during the week, 35 remained stable and 13 went down. The best performing stocks for the week were: Greenbay Properties Ltd (+8.33%), MDIT Ltd (+5.12%), Rockcastle Real Estate Co. Ltd (+4.26%), MCB Group Ltd (+4.17%) and Alteo Ltd (+3.66%). The worst performers were: Go Life International Ltd (-50%), BlueLife Ltd (-7.02%), Caudan Development Ltd (-5.36%), United Docks Ltd (-4.76%) and Mara Delta Property Holdings Limited (-4.61%).

On the Development & Enterprise Market (DEM), at market close on Monday, the two indices, the DEMEX and the DEMTRI, closed at 214.96 points and 282.91 points respectively. A total volume of 2 million shares for a total value of Rs 31.5 million has been traded during the week. The ten best performers in terms of annualised return since listing are: ABC Banking Corporation, 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 and Morning Light Ltd. The total return varies from 19.26% to 40.97%.

On the international front, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the NASDAQ went down 0.44% and 0.61% respectively in one week. In Europe, the FTSE-100 went up 0.48% whereas the CAC and the DAX lost 1.50% and 1.03% respectively during the same period.

The following data highlights the ten best performing stocks in terms of annualised total returns since their listing on the stock exchange.