The Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) was bullish in the first quarter (Q1) as it registered a positive return on investment of 1.22 percent, a market report has shown.

On a year-to-year basis, the return on investment is higher than what was achieved during the same period last year at 0.53 percent.

The positive performance was seen in the upward movement of the Malawi All Share Index (Masi), the measure of local shares market performance, from 45 367.68 points registered in January to 45 921.23 points in March, according to the Q1 market performance report.

Reads the report: “The price gains registered on National Bank of Malawi at 17 percent, Airtel at five percent, Illovo at 1.81 percent, National Investment Trust Limited at 0.02 percent, FMBCH 0.013 percent, Sunbird at 0.011 percent and Standard Bank at 0.006 percent were enough to offset share price losses on five counters resulting into an upward movement of the Malawi All Share Index.”

In the quarterly report released on Wednesday, the MSE attributed the price gains in the seven counters as key drivers in the downward movement of the Masi.

During the review period, the market transacted 112 million shares at K4.42 billion in 848 trades, higher than 32 million shares transacted at K1.19 billion in 587 trades in the corresponding period of 2021 which reflects an 247.81 percent increase in volume and an 271.51 percent decrease in value.

In an interview, MSE operations manager Keline Kanyangala said 2022 will be a good year for the MSE, given the gross domestic product projections, which are clearly a rise from the previous year.

“Performance of the market is also influenced by how the economy performs as such, we believe that if companies operate in an environment where they are growing and making profits, this will be reflected in the share price movements and overall market performance,” she said.

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