USE recovers from reduced activity

Improved. The USE, according to available data has posted improved activity compared to the last year. FILE PHOTO

Turnover at the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) has recovered hitting Shs58.2b for the period between January and November.
The recovery indicates improved activities on the exchange stock within the same period last year.
The turnover is described as the volume of shares traded on the stock exchange over a particular period.
Speaking yesterday during the fact behind figures presentation of the New Vision Printing and Publishing in Nakawa, Kampala Mr Paul Bwiso, the USE chief executive officer, said market activities are better than last year when the exchange registered a substantially poor performance.
USE during the same period last year, only registered Shs45b way below the Shs287b the exchange had registered in 2016 and Shs100b in 2017.
“There has been improvement in the stock market activities this year and we expect the market to perform better than last year. Some institutional investors are in the market buying and selling shares,” he said, noting that during the period, 1.75 million shares were traded at different counters.
At 972 million shared, the Stanbic Bank counter registered the highest activity.
However, according to Mr Bwiso, Umeme registered the highest turnover of Shs26.786b, which represented 48.26 per cent followed.
Stanbic Bank posted Shs24b while Bank of Baroda registered Shs3.5b as turnover which represented 6.46 per cent.
Dfcu registered Shs1.4b turnover, which represented 2.53 per cent while Nic had 1.262b. New Vision posted Shs0.01b with only 34 deals, according to Mr Bwiso.
Centum registered turnover of Shs25.792m which Cipla (CQCIL) registered Shs317.674m. Uganda Clays registered Shs325.063m.
The total number of deals registered from January to November stood at 4,605, which was a slight increase in the activity.
According to Mr Bwiso, total turnover at the stock exchange could hit Shs60b or Shs70b before the close of the financial year.
According to the International Monetary Fund’s global financial stability report released last month, it was noted that financial markets had been buffeted by the flow of trade tensions and growing concerns about the global economic outlook.
The IMF said weakening economic activity and increased downside risks have prompted a shift toward a more dovish stance of monetary policy across the globe, a development that has been accompanied by sharp declines in market yields.
“Financial markets have been buffeted by the twists and turns of trade disputes amid growing investor concerns about downside risks to the economic outlook,” the report.

Growth

According to Mr Bwiso, some of the foreign investors who had withdrawn from the Ugandan market are return because of falling interest rates in the US and Europe.
“Foreign investors are getting better returns on their investment compared to the western world and we are seeing foreign institutional investors beginning to become active in the market,” he said.