The Uganda Securities Exchange has seen a rebound in trading activity after months of a slowdown due to Covid-19, which continues to ravage equity markets across the globe.
Uganda Clays and Stanbi Bank dominated trading activity at the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) in the quarter ended June, according to USE chief executive officer Paul Bwiso.
During the period, Mr Bwiso said, Uganda Clays had traded 85.4 million shares, accounting for 56.79 per cent of traded volumes while Stanbic accounted for 25.3 per cent of traded volumes or 38.1 million shares.
Umeme, Bank of Baroda, Cipla and NIC traded 16.05 million, 10.02 million, 677,251 and 104,438 shares, accounting for 10.67 per cent, 6.66 per cent, 0.45 per cent and 0.07 per cent of total volumes, respectively.
Dfcu and New Vision Limited recorded marginal positions, posting the least traded volumes.
However, Mr Bwiso noted that during the quarter ended June only eight counters had contributed to turnover with Umeme posting Shs3.4b in turnover, which accounted for 57.73 per cent of total turnover.
Stanbic, which accounted for 17.37 per cent of total turnover followed while Bank of Baroda, Uganda Clays, Cipla, and Dfcu counters accounted for 15.79 per cent, 8.08 per cent, 0.99 per cent and 0.02 per cent, respectively.
The improved performance, according to Mr Bwiso, was a results of a return of foreign and institutional investors, many of whom had stayed away due to election-related tension early in the year and Covid-19 disruptions.
During the period, turnover tremendously increased, growing to Shs5.9b, which represented a pickup of 74 per cent, compared to Shs3.4b registered in the quarter ended March.
Mr Andrew Mwima, the USE trade manager, told Daily Monitor at the weekend that most locally listed companies had registered better than projected performance for the year end 2020, which in turn had encouraged demand for shares as investors sought to share into the profitability.
However, almost all listed companies registered a drop in profits with Stanbic posting a slight drop in profits from Shs259b in 2019 to Shs242b in 2020. d. During the period, Umeme, which is one of the most profitable listed company, registered a 64 per cent drop in profits.
“There has been a rebound in the economy due to the conclusion of the election season and phased easing of the lockdown which saw increased participation of foreign and institutional investors,” he said.
Mr Mwima also noted that there […]