Market Wrap: Umeme drives weekly turnover past sh5b

KAMPALA - Trading activity on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) picked up last week with total turnover surging to sh5.04b, a sharp rise from the previous week's sh230.17m.

According to market data from Crested Capital, Umeme dominated activity, contributing nearly 99% of the total turnover.

The power distributor posted sh4.99b in traded value.

MTN trades were worth sh31.65m, accounting for just 0.63% of the weekly turnover. Stanbic Holdings posted sh10.79m while Airtel Uganda moved shares worth sh7.13m.
Uganda Clays Limited (UCL) and NIC Holdings (NIC) trailed with only sh2.18m and sh137,500 in turnover, respectively.

The USE All Share Index climbed 1.90% to close at 1,335.95. The Local Companies Index rose 0.78% to finish at 340.97.

Price movements

Share price movements were limited, with only four locally listed counters recording any change. Stanbic gained 4.89% to close at sh50. UCL dropped 7.23% to sh6.03, NIC Holdings declined by 1.96% to sh5. MTN edged down 0.17% to close at sh260.

Other domestic counters held steady, including Airtel Uganda (sh80), Bank of Baroda Uganda (sh35.24), New Vision (sh152), Umeme (sh415), dfcu (sh253), British American Tobacco Uganda (sh15,000) and QCIL (sh89) saw no price changes during the week.

Among cross-listed stocks, East African Breweries Limited gained 12.19% to close at sh5,837.17, while Nation Media Group rose 3.15% to sh399.31. Centum was up 2.43% to sh341.08.

On the downside, Jubilee Holdings slipped 1.81% to sh6,266.98, Equity Group Holdings dropped 1.56% to sh1,372.64, KCB Group fell 0.29% to sh1,289.45, and Kenya Airways tumbled 64.21% to sh148.08.