DAR es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE) has offered the best return above all stock markets in East Africa in the first three months of this year in US dollar term.
DSE, which is the only exchange in the bloc with an alternative market, registered a stock returns, in US dollar adjusted, of 2.9 per cent. The second best market performer in Q1, according to DSE, was Uganda Securities Exchange that registered a return of 2.2 per cent.
Kenya’s Nairobi Securities Exchange, the oldest exchange in East Africa, posted a return of 2.1 per cent while Rwanda Stock Exchange registered a negative return of 2.4 per cent. DSE Chief Executive Officer, Moremi Marwa, gave the reasons behind the low performance of the region bourses as challenging and uncertainty operating environment during Q1.
“As for the DSE the quarter had mixed results — the liquidity (turnover) and domestic listed stocks performance activities recorded decreased activity,” Mr Marwa said in DSE’s CEO Quarterly Note.
While on other hand the CEO said total market capitalisation and the DSE Index (tracking all 23 listed equity companies) increased. He said, globally the trend was a result of slowdown in economic growth rates, volatile exchange and interest rates.
He named other factors being the slowdown in China — and its impact in African commodity prices — and the increased social discontent being some of the factors that concern investors.
The best performer exchange in Africa was Johannesburg Stock Exchange that registered a return of 13.5 per cent in the first three months of this year. The second best was BRVM —West Africa that registered a 8.4 per cent return followed by Namibia Stock Exchange with 7.2 per cent.
The lowest performer in this year’s Q1, the selected list, was Malawi Stock Exchange that registered a negative return of 17.2 per cent, then Zimbabwe Stock Exchange 15 per cent followed by Nigeria Stock Exchange 11.6 per cent and Ghana Stock Exchange with 4.7 per cent.
