Investors cautious with their assets
MBABANE – The Eswatini Stock Exchange (ESE) has reported that the month of February 2024 had no trades, which might be attributable to investors being cautious with their assets.
The ESE hopes that its automated trading environment from being manual to fully automated will surely increase trades going forward.
According to the ESE monthly report for ESE, month-on-month, the value traded decreased by 100 per cent from E74 400 at the end of January 2024 to E0 at the end of February 2024.
Year-on-year, there was a 100 per cent decrease in value traded from E48 446 in February 2023 to the current value traded of E0 in February 2024.
It was reported that the local equity market’s capitalisation remained at E6 634 796 342 from the end of January 2024 to the end of February 2024.
Unchanged
The market capitalisation remained unchanged as there were no trades with price movements in the period under review that could have changed the market capitalisation.
Year-on-year, the market capitalisation realised a 51.98 per cent gain from E4 365 510 521 in February 2023 to E6 634 796 342 at the end of February 2024.
The ESE All-Share Index remained unchanged at 472.77 between the end of January 2024 and the end of February 2024. Year-on-year, the All-Share Index increased by 2.72 per cent from 460.24 in February 2023 to 472.77 in February 2024.
Inala Capital Limited gained the most on a yearly basis at 7.14 per cent, followed by Greystone Partners Limited at 6.25per cent, then
Nedbank Eswatini Limited at 6.23 per cent and Swazi Empowerment Limited (SEL) at 2.70 per cent.
SWAPROP had a capital loss of -5.06 per cent due to its share price decline. Nkonyeni Pre-cast Limited has gained 20 per cent from its listing price in November 2023.
However, the month of January 2024 had several trades, which might be attributable to the ESE’s automated trading environment from being manual to fully automated.
Decreased
Month-on-Month, the value traded decreased by 85.92 per cent from E528 399 at the end of December 2023 to E74 400 at the end of January 2024. Year-on-year, there was a 65.42 per cent decrease in value traded from E215 126.00 in January 2023 to the current value traded of E74 400 in January 2024.
As of February 29, 2024, total Corporate Bonds value stood at E1 624 131 625.43. Month on-month, Corporate Bonds value increased by 4.72 per cent from SZL1 550 963 715.25 at the end of January 2024 to E1 624 131 625.43 at the end of February 2024.
The increase was due to a tradeoff between bond values that commenced trading and those that matured.
On a yearly basis, there was a 2.12 per cent decrease in bonds trading/ outstanding from E1 659 277 259 at the end of February 2023 to E1 624 131 625.43 at the end of February 2024.
This maybe due to the rising interest rates which forced companies to reduce their appetite for debt/loans as the cost of debt capital increased.
As of February 29, 2024, total government bonds stood at E5 756 488 000. Month-on month, government bonds remained constant at E5 756 488 000 at the end of January 2024 until the end of February 2024. The government bonds trading on the ESE remained the same because there were no bonds that commenced trading and there were no bonds that matured in the period under review.
On a yearly basis, there was a 5.15 per cent decrease from E6 068 828 000 in February 2023 to E5 756 488 000 at the end of February 2024.