Africa Stock Markets Post Mixed Performance In First Week Of June

African stock markets exhibited a mixed performance in the first week of June, with notable gains in Nigeria, South Africa, and Morocco, while Ghana and Malawi posted significant losses, according to data from African-Markets.com.

The Weekly African Markets Performance report for Week 23 (June 1–5) revealed divergent trends across the continent’s four regions East, Southern, North, and West Africa.

West Africa, Nigeria Surges, Ghana Slumps
Nigeria’s NGX ASI led the continent’s performance with a 2.50 percent weekly gain, contributing to an 11.36 percent year-to-date increase in local currency and 9.00 percent in USD terms.

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In contrast, Ghana’s GSE-CI plunged 2.77 percent during the week, despite a strong 22.83 percent year-to-date local performance, hinting at recent volatility.

The regional BRVM-CI index fell slightly by 0.23 percent, but remains up 9.43 percent year-to-date.

North Africa, Morocco and Egypt Shine
Morocco’s MASI posted a robust 3.26 percent weekly gain, bringing its year-to-date performance to 25.65 percent, the second highest on the continent after Malawi.

Egypt’s EGX 30 rose 0.57 percent, and Tunisia’s TUNINDEX dipped slightly by 0.11 percent, despite a strong 14.51 percent gain year-to-date in local terms.

Southern Africa, Malawi Leads Year-to-Date Gains
Malawi’s MSE ASI dropped 1.20 percent this week, yet it maintains the highest year-to-date return on the continent at 62.61 percent in local currency and an even more impressive 61.96 percent in USD.

South Africa’s JSE ASI rallied 1.90 percent this week, backed by a solid 13.74 percent year-to-date local performance, while Zambia’s LuSE ASI gained 1.85 percent .

Mauritius and Namibia declined by 0.62 percent and 0.30 percent, respectively. The SEM ASI of Mauritius is the only index in the red on a year-to-date basis locally, down 1.23 percent .

East Africa, Modest Movements
In East Africa, Kenya’s NSE-ASL was the region’s top performer with a 0.73 percent weekly increase, pushing its year-to-date gain to 9.68 percent .

Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda all posted slight weekly declines of 0.40 percent, 0.41 percent, and 0.42 percent, respectively.

Currency Impact
Currency fluctuations significantly influenced USD-based returns. Zambia’s market, for example, gained 31.51 percent year-to-date in USD, compared to 23.98 percent locally, highlighting strong kwacha appreciation.

In contrast, Rwanda’s year-to-date gain of 1.35 percent in local terms translated to a -1.10 percent loss in USD, indicating currency depreciation.