Market will get more volumes, value - report

By David Mugabe

Market observers have given a positive outlook predicting that Uganda’s economic recovery will accelerate further this year.

A Crested Stocks and Securities outlook posted Wednesday afternoon noted that the Ugandan stock market will also post more activity than in 2013 owing to a stable economic climate which supports investment in listed securities.

“We expect more corporate actions, particularly in banking and insurance, as companies look to access capital and meet industry capital requirements, the spotlight on emerging and frontier markets by off shore investors presents more opportunity for growth of the stock market,” says the report.

Agriculture and services are anticipated to be the main driver of this growth while the expected oil explorations and other activities which are aligned to the commencement of this quickly establishing sector will see more investments.

The stock brokerage firm also predicts that the banking sector will recover from the effects of the high non-performing loans that were accumulated in 2011-2012 therefore the sector is projected to perform better than in 2013.

The main market indicator is currently trading in the mid 1,400s.

“The USE Index has had a similar trend of low at the beginning of the year, reaches its highest in the middle of the year as most listed companies close their registers for dividend payment before becoming stable at the end of the year,’ observes the report.