Despite a great year on the main US markets in 2017, many African stock exchanges offered USD investors a higher return. Biggest gain in USD was the Malawi Stock Exchange index, which climbed by 56.0%. It was among 6 African exchanges that outperformed the tech-heavy Nasdaq, which scored a strong 28.2% gain in 2017.
Other leading African stock exchange indices included Ghana, up 43.8%, Uganda up 30.7%, Mauritius 29.9% and South Africa JSE All Share up 29.7%.
The Zimbabwe Stock Exchange Industrial Index climbed 124.2%. However, most analysts rebase the market using the Old Mutual Implied Rate (OMIR), comparing the price of Old Mutual shares listed on the Zimbabwe Stock Exchange with the same shares on the London Stock Exchange to act as an inflation adjustor, since local dollar values do not reflect international dollar values. On the OMIR basis, the ZSE still gained a creditable 28.5%.
Other leading African markets such as Nigeria (Main Board index up 25.4%, but still to gain its previous highs of April 2014 and 2008) and Egypt’s EGX 30 (up 24.1%) also delighted investors.
Stockbroker Securities Africa (www.securitiesafrica.com) shed light on which of the major counters helped drive 2017 index performance:
• Botswana: Botswana Insurance Holdings Ltd (+14.2%), Barclays Bank of Botswana (+31.1%) and Choppies Enterprises (+9.0%) led the gains in the major names in Botswana.
• BRVM: Whilst Sonatel closed the year 11.29% higher, Ecobank Transnational Inc closed 17.8% lower in USD terms. The currency was also weaker (-10.44%) for the year, contributing to the decline in the USD value of the Index. This was the only Index that closed in negative territory in 2017.
• Egypt: Eastern Tobacco was the stand-out performer, closing the year up 229.3% in 2017.
• Ghana: Standard Chartered Bank was the main driver behind the GSE performance in 2017, gaining 95.7% in USD terms.
• Kenya: Telecom giant Safaricom closed the year 40.2% higher taking responsibility for a large part of the index performance.
• Malawi: Illovo Sugar (+50.4%) and Telekom Networks Malawi (+110.2%) were the two major movers in 2017 in USD.
• Mauritius: Heavyweights MCB Group and SBM Holdings gained 35.5% and 20.5% respectively.
• Morocco: The two banks, Attijariwafa Bank (+28.5%) and Banque Central Populaire (+14.3%) were the big name gainers in Morocco.
• Namibia: Namibia Breweries was the major contributor to the strong local index performance as it gained 55.1%.
• Nigeria: Dangcem (+15.4%), Nestle (+67.7%), Guaranty (+48.2%), Zenith (+55.4%) and Stanbic (+130.9%) contributed to a strong index performance in 2017.
• Rwanda: Bank of Kigali gained 26.7% to help the index close in the positive band.
• S. Africa: Naspers and Glencore led the big name gainers finishing the year 88.8% and 49.3% higher in USD terms.
• Tanzania: Tanzania Breweries and Tanzania Cigarette were the major name strong performers, gaining 20.2% and 52.6% respectively.
• Tunisia: Banque Internationale Arabe de Tunisie closed 31.4% higher and Attijari Bank followed suit, gaining 26.6%.
• Uganda: Stanbic Uganda (+9.9%) and Jubilee Holdings (+17.3%) were the major names that helped the index gain significantly during the period.
• Zambia: Standard Chartered Bank (+58.5%), Zambian Breweries (+13.0%) and Copperbelt Energy (+64.5%) were the major drivers behind the Lusaka Stock Exchanges performance.
• Zimbabwe: Using the Old Mutual Implied rate, the market closed 28.5% higher for 2017. The two major names in Zimbabwe, Delta and Econet, were up 77.8% (17.8% OMIR) and 216.7% (49.7% OMIR) respectively. British American Tobacco which closed the year 136.1% (31.2% OMIR) higher was also one of the best performing names.
