Stock market closes week with a 70 percent decrease in turnover

By Silvia Nyambura

The stock market has closed the week with a decreased turnover of Ushs 1.24 billion compared to Ushs 4.08 billion registered last week. This translates to a 69.6 percent decrease.
The USE All Share Index was up 0.69 per cent to close this Ushs at 2,076.36 due to price increments on nine listed counters. The USE Local Share Index and C8 Local Companies’ index also advanced by 1.13 per cent and 1.1 per cent to end Friday’s trading session at 329.95 and 103.82 respectively reflecting price growth on the large cap SBU counter.

UMEME and DFCU were the biggest contributors to this week’s market turnover. UMEME had 1.73 million shares changing hands to generate a turnover of Ushs 852.21 million. Its share price shed off 1 per cent to close this week at Ushs 494.

DFCU Group had Ushs 198.05 million in turnover as a result of trading 233,000 shares at Ushs 850 per share. Bank of Baroda Uganda traded 695,017 shares at a stable price Ushs 130 to realize a turnover of Ushs 90.35 million. New Vision Limited share price dropped by 0.33 percent to trade at traded Ushs 600. The counter moved 98,163 shares to register a turnover of Ushs 59.87 million.

Stanbic Bank Uganda which published its 2014 financial results today showing a 33 per cent surge in profit after tax was the week’s biggest gainer with its price appreciating by 3.03 per cent to trade at Ushs 34. The counter had Ushs 39.55 million in turnover as a result of exchanging 1.19 million shares. National Insurance share price remained stable at Ushs 17 this week. A total of 132,294 shares were traded on the counter to realize a turnover of Ushs 2.25 million. Uganda Clays Limited moved 3,945 shares at Ushs 18 each to realize a turnover of Ushs 71,010.

Among the cross listings, Equity Bank Ltd was the week’s biggest loser with its price shrinking by 2.61 percent to close Friday’s trading session at Ushs 1,605. On the other hand, Centum Investments made the largest gain as its share price grew by 9.66 percent to Ushs 1,919.

The Uganda Shilling was stable this week owing to reduced corporate and interbank demand in the market. The shilling was quoted at Ushs 2,969.62 against the dollar as at midday on Friday.