Weekly market wrap: stock market slows ahead of budget week

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Trading activity dropped sharply at the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) with only eight counters changing hands and total turnover falling to sh110m in 1.43 million shares.

The is a steep decline from sh1.5b in nearly 19 million shares traded the previous week according to market data from Crested Capital. Next week, the finance minister Matia Kasaija is expected to deliver the budget for the fiscal year 2025/26.

MTN led trading for the week, accounting for more than half of all turnover with sh58.45m in volume.

The Bank of Baroda (BOBU) followed with sh19.72m while Stanbic Holdings and Airtel Uganda moved sh15.85m and sh15.51m respectively.

The remaining counters traded in much smaller volumes. UCL and QCIL each moved less than sh400,000 combined, while New Vision and dfcu together accounted for just sh78,166.

The USE All Share Index (ALSI) lost 0.42% over the week, closing at 1,258.62. But not everything was down. The local company index, which tracks local companies, edged up 0.18% to close at 342.29 points.

Price movements

Stanbic gained 0.42%, closing at sh47.77 per share. BOBU rose 0.39% to sh30.73 and MTN added 0.26% to settle at sh270.56.

On the losing side, Airtel Uganda slipped 0.37% to sh80 while UCL fell sharply by 7.14% to close at sh6.50 per share, the biggest drop among local counters.

The rest of the domestic listings held steady. dfcu stayed at sh253, NIC at sh5, NVL at sh152, QCIL at sh89, and BATU remained unchanged at sh15,000.

Cross-listed stocks

Among cross-listed entities with the Nairobi Securities Exchange, KCB Group stood out with a 4% jump to sh1,222.58. Centum Investments also gained, rising 0.29% to sh326.77.

EABL lost 3.06% to sh4,901.58, EBL dipped 2.13% to sh1,197.23, and JHL slid 4.70% to sh6,190.36. Kenya Airways and Nation Media Group also fell, by 0.16% and 3.22%, closing at sh126.77 and sh311.28, respectively.