UGANDA STOCK MARKET: Umeme in pole position

By David Mugabe

Umeme regained pole position on Tuesday, selling 110,000 shares and picking sh39 million in turnover.Overall, volumes and value edged up slightly from last week, with Umeme’s sell accounting for 96.5% of the total value sold on Tuesday.

Last week, Umeme sold 1,450 shares at an average of sh345.

Total turnover was sh41m from last session’s sh8m that had more unfulfilled demand than sealed deals.

Last week, Stanbic bank attracted a huge demand post dividend announcement, with bids for over 31 million shares, while market demand closed at 16.7 million.

The bids declined to 23 million shares on Tuesday, which is still substantial in comparison to other companies’ performance.

There are reports of foreign funds entering the market, thus driving the demand although below the price at which the market wants to sell at.

On Tuesday, Stanbic, one of only four active companies trading, sold 20,000 shares, picking just sh500,000 in turnover.

Analysts had earlier highlighted that the market is stuck at sh30 share price, while real demand for Stanbic shares stood at sh25. Tuesday’s deals were concluded at an average of sh25.

Bank of Baroda recorded the second highest offer of over three million shares after Stanbic, although no deals were concluded on the Baroda counter.

New Vision, Uganda’s largest multimedia house, also recorded bids for over 115,000 shares, although no deals were struck.

There were offers for 579 shares.

National Insurance Corporation bounced back, selling 11,188 shares at an average of sh35 per share. NIC’s total turnover was sh391.590.

dfcu bank bounced back with a modest 501 shares trading at an average of sh1,035 from last week’s average of sh1,040. Turnover was 518,535.

BATU was quiet, while there were bids for one million Uganda Clays shares from last week’s 400,000 bid. No deals were concluded on the clay maker’s counter.

The total shares traded on Tuesday were 141,689, compared to last Tuesday’s 216,524 shares.