Watershed year at BSE
Keikantse Lesemela | Friday December 19, 2014 09:00
The BSE transition bill also sailed through parliament, which will allow the incorporation of the Stock Exchange providing it with the flexibility to operate on a more commercial basis and enter into strategic alliances.
In the year, the stock market also introduced the Exchange News Service. This service will disseminate listed company information to the market in real time, facilitating punctual, equal and wide exchange of relevant news and information. Subscribers to the X-News Email Service now have the link to the publications dispatched to their designated email addresses within 10 minutes of uploading to the ATSM and BSEW.
The launch of new platinum Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) also boosted BSE competitive edge in the international markets, as the NewPlat is one of the most products in high demand in the leading economies, such as China, Japan and United States.
On performance, the Domestic Companies Index (DCI) has increased by 5.15 percent on a year to date basis. However, the index declined by 0.09 percent this week to close at 9 502 .25 points from 9510.89 points last week. A total of 17 732 855 securities valued at P53 898 901 were traded during the week.
In the third quarter of the year, security company G4s was the largest gainer following its half-year results where PAT rebounded, escalating by 129 percent year on year though its revenues grew marginally by 7 percent. The security giant surged by 57 percent during the third quarter extending its year to date gains to 27 percent. Imara was also on the positive territory as market responded to their full year results where the financial service company managed to post a profit of P16.1 million as compared to a loss of P1.5 million during the prior financial year. Letshego soared by 18 percent, as investors remained bullish about its outlook going forward, as it was recently granted a provisional banking license by the central bank of Namibia.
The micro lender, which saw its loan book reach the P5 billion marks for their half-year result, increased its payout ratio to 50 percent, buoying its dividend yield to 4.1 percent.
Among the top performing companies in the year were Lucara mining company, which rose 56 percent boosted by the auctioning of its Karowe diamonds. Sechaba rose 47 percent due to improvement in its end of year financial results, followed by BancABC with 41 percent boosted by Atlas Mara acquisition. On retail market Sefalana marked a good performance of 37 percent due to its expansions to Namibia.
On the exchange rates, on a year to date the Pula has strengthened in Rand by 2.3 percent, though it has shed some ground to the greenback and pound by 8.2 percent and 3.7 percent respectively.
However, this week the Pula lost ground against most of its major trading counterparts. But it gained traction relative to the Rand.
The local unit shed 1.9 percent to the dollar and 2.3 percent against the pound but firmed by 1.7 percent to the rand during the week.