Market posts gains during the week

The local market posted modest gains during the week (16-23 February 2015). The SEMDEX and the SEMTRI moved up by 0.66% at the end of the days under review.

The All share index, SEMDEX, closed the session of Monday 23^rd February 2015 at 2,006.57 points, gaining 13.19 points during the week. The Total Return Index, SEMTRI, finished the same session at 6,579.80 points, growing by 43.26 points in one week. The SEM-10 index, which comprises the ten largest and most liquid stocks, ended at 377.62 points. The market capitalisation stood Rs 223.08 billion at market close on Monday.

Total transactions amounted to Rs 632.9 million during the week. The top five traded securities during the week were: POLICY Ltd (POL), New Mauritius Hotels Ltd (NMHL), MCB Group Limited (MCBG), CIEL Limited (CIEL) and Terra Mauricia Ltd (TERA). They were exchanged for a total value of Rs 320 million, Rs 100.9 million, Rs 89.6 million, Rs 32.1 million and Rs 23.4 million. The shares of POL, NMHL, MCBG, CIEL and TERA closed at Rs 7.20, Rs 67.75, Rs 205.00, Rs 6.90 and Rs 30.50 on 23^rd 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, 12 moved up during the week, 27 remained stable and 12 went down. The best performing stocks for the week were: Go Life International PCC (+25%), Lottotech Ltd (+16.97%), CIM Financial Services Ltd (+3.26%), Caudan Development Ltd (+3.08%) and MCB Group Ltd (+1.86%). The worst performers were: BlueLife Ltd (-4.89%), Air Mauritius Ltd (-3.01%), Fincorp Investment Ltd (-2.17%), New Mauritius Hotels Ltd (-1.81%) and NewGold Securities (-1.39%).

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 201.01 points and 248.94 points respectively. Market capitalisation stood at Rs 47.51 billion. A total volume of 6.4 million shares for a total value of Rs 235.1 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), United Investments Ltd, Anglo Mauritius Assurance Society Ltd, Phoenix Investment Co Ltd and The Union Sugar Estates Ltd. The total return varies from 22.53% to 40.98%.

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 0.67% and 1.27% respectively. In Europe, Germany DAX, Britain FTSE-100 and France CAC-40 gained 0.80%, 0.61% and 1.50% respectively during the same time frame.