THE EASTAFRICAN
Strong foreign investor participation in 2013 pushed regional stock markets in Africa to performance records.
Most investors who put their money in the stock markets got handsome returns, especially at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), which closed 2013 as the best-performing market in Africa and fourth best in the world.
Data analyzed by The EastAfrican indicates that investors showed a strong appetite for companies in the financial, manufacturing and investment sectors. “With relatively stable macro-economic factors, the country as a whole is poised for growth,” according to Old Mutual Securities. “However, a smooth transition which began [in 2012] through the dispensation of the new devolved government will determine the stock market’s and the economy’s performance.”
Stock exchanges in Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda all recorded positive years. The All-Share Index, which evaluates the performance of Rwandan stocks, rose by more than 130 percent. The Tanzania Share Index almost doubled, jumping 95 percent.
Analysts say the region’s exchanges benefited from falling inflation, which freed consumer spending, while the relative improvement of the global economy also revived international capital flows.
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