Weekly Market Wrap: Turnover declines on slow activity

KAMPALA - Weekly turnover on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) slipped last week, with trades worth about sh672.82m ($181,137) changing hands, down from sh1.34b ($362,597) a week earlier, as investor activity slowed and volumes thinned.

A total of 4,947,704 shares were exchanged during the period, a decline from 20,329,132 shares previously, according to market data from Crested Capital.

MTN Uganda led the activity, accounting for sh360.22m ($96,979) from 863,488 shares traded. Stanbic Holdings followed with sh247.87m ($66,730) after 3,183,250 shares changed hands.

Airtel Uganda posted turnover of sh31.76m ($8,552) from 233,380 shares, while Bank of Baroda traded sh26.86m ($7,231) on 497,360 shares.

Umeme recorded sh4m ($1,077), Quality Chemicals Industries Limited traded sh1.64m ($442), and Uganda Clays saw sh468,000 ($126) worth of shares exchanged. NIC Holdings and New Vision Group were largely inactive, with just three shares traded across both counters.

On the price front, Quality Chemicals Industries Limited edged up 0.80% to sh126, while MTN fell 5.49% to sh415.07. Other actively traded stocks held steady, with Airtel at sh136, Stanbic at sh77, and Baroda at sh54.

Among cross listed stocks, Centum Investments rose 2.59% to sh408.25, Equity Group Holdings gained 1.44% to sh2,170.88, and East African Breweries added 0.22% to sh7,201.88. KCB Group inched up 0.06% to sh1,990.94.

On the downside, Kenya Airways dropped 27.57% to sh169.63, Jubilee Holdings shed 1.77%, and Nation Media Group declined 4.89% to sh405.38.

The USE All Share Index fell 1.81% to 1,952.43, while the local index, which tracks local companies, declined 2.50% to 184.05.