Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange topped the performance list for the 12 months to 31 January for USD investors, according to the data collected by Ryan Hoover’s excellent Investing in Africa website. It managed a 27% climb, including 3.8% in January. That beat the S&P 500 index which managed a strong 11.9%, despite increasing worries of pending bear markets and falling back to 30 Jan, although it has since gained.
Other African bourses which beat the S&P included Uganda Securities Exchange (up 18.3%), South Africa’s JSE (up 17.1%), Nairobi Securities Exchange (16.1%) and Namibian Stock Exchange (up 15%).
Hardly surprisingly, two of the worst performers were hit by the crashing oil price, including heavy falls in the currency compared to the soaraway USD. Nigeria was down 36.9% including 16.6% in January and Ghana down 32.1% including 8.3% in January. Weakness in the euro no doubt contributed to the poor performance of the BRVM, as the CFA currency is linked to the euro.
This picture, created by website AfricanBusinessCentral gives “volume”, which is normally defined as the number of shares traded, although I could not find the source data for this infographic so we welcome any clarifications. Better indications of exchange liquidity are often the value of shares traded and the number of transactions.
