BSE Starts Off In The Red

Staff Writer | Monday January 11, 2010 00:00

BIHL which had stunned investors in the last quarter of 2009 by rising to 1,250 thebe succumbed to more profit taking into the new year.

Barclays Bank also followed the same trend losing on three consecutive days during the week to close at 658 thebe on persistent profit taking.

The DCI has already edged into the negative territory on a year to date basis by -0.49 percent, while the FCI has remained flat at 1,418.24 points in the absence of any trades on the Foreign Equity Main Board.

In 2009, the DCI closed the year 2.93 percent higher, a great improvement from the 2008 close of      -16.5 percent, while the FCI in turn ended the same year +18.9 percent higher, an improvement from a slump of -45.8 percent in 2008 as the local mining sector was hit the hardest by the global recession.

In terms of volumes, around 168.1 million shares, worth P769.3 million exchanged hands on the Botswana Stock Exchange in 2009, down from 193.3 million shares, worth P1.2 billion that were traded in 2008.

Meanwhile, a total of 192,963 shares, worth P1.1 million exchanged hands on the local bourse during the week under review. 

During the same period in 2009, a total of 279,633 shares, worth only P360,115 were traded.

RPC Data opened the year on a higher note, gaining 20 percent to 30 thebe on bargain hunting.

Discovery Metals continued from where it left in 2009, rising to another 52 week high of 386 thebe. Property giant Turnstar rose by 1.4 percent to 144 thebe, while funeral services provider FSG surged to another new high of 160 thebe on positive investor's sentiments. Other gains were in PrimeTime, up 1.3 percent to 155 thebe, and ABCH which edged 0.8 percent to 130 thebe.

Losses were however observed in BIHL which lost by 5.5 percent to 1,040 thebe on persistent profit taking as alluded to before. 

Barclays bank softened by 1.3 percent to 658 thebe, while Sechaba ended the week 0.4 percent softer at 1,280 thebe.

According to Motswedi Securities computations, the local stock market is still one of the best performing markets despite the blood bath that was experienced during the first half of 2009.

'Using January 2005 as the base year, we have established that the Domestic Companies Index has moved by 158 percent since January 2005, while inflation as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has moved by 56 percent, hence outpacing inflation by a convincing 102 percentage points,' said a market report from Motswedi.