Stock Market Booms in 1st Quarter, fuelled by Banks’ Performance

The Total Return Index, the Semtri, soared on the stock market, setting a new record by closing the trading session at 9255.55 points.

The Semtri has seen a growth of 5.9% since the beginning of the year and an annualized return of 14% since July 1989.

The last time this index closed at its highest was on May 4, 2022, at 9182.32 points.

The Semdex ended Friday’s session at 2151.68 points, up 5.57% since the beginning of 2024. The SEM-10 closed the year 2024 with a gain of 8.19%.

The performance of the stock indices is mainly attributed to the financial results of the two major banks in the country, namely MCB Group and SBM Holdings.

On Friday March 29, MCBG shares rose by 1.2% to Rs 375, while SBMH shares gained 16.6% to Rs 5.20, following record profits and the announcement of doubling its dividend (to Re 0.40 per share).

For the financial year 2023, SBMH recorded a record profit attributable to shareholders of Rs 4.3 billion, up 18.7% compared to the previous year, mainly due to an increase in net interest income (up 19.3% to Rs 10.6 billion).

Since the beginning of 2024, MCB Group and SBM Holdings have recorded a total return of 15.74% and 14.29% respectively at the Stock Exchange of Mauritius.

Other notable performances among Blue Chips in terms of total return were achieved by Vivo Energy Mauritius (+5.90%), Sun Limited (+5.13%) and Ciel Limited (+4.94%).

Finally, the Top Gainers during last Friday’s trading session were: SBMH (+16.6%), Omnicane (+5.0%), Grit – USD (+3.4%), Policy (+2.6%) and MCBG (+1.2%).

Source: Le Mauricien