The Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) is starting the year strongly, igniting hopes once again that the local bourse might be on its way to recovery following a string of losses with major stocks shedding value.
The Domestic Company Index (DCI), which tracks share price performance of the 24 listed companies on the domestic counter, gained 0.13 percent during the second week of trading, edging to 6888.10 points from 6879.35 points of the previous week. A total of 11.5 million securities valued at P9.9 million were traded in the second week of January.
The country’s leading microlender Letshego is currently leading the resurgence, with the company’s stock up by 4.17 percent since the year began. It is the only stock that has gained value so far, now trading at 75 thebe. Letshego has recently unveiled its strategy, with the lender and deposit taking institution buoyant that the business has been resilient in the face of disruptions caused by Covid-19 pandemic.
Letshego’s performance was strong enough to parry losses from Botswana Telecommunications Limited (BTCL) which lost 1.22 percent to trade at 81 thebe, while the country’s second biggest commercial bank ABSA shed 0.19 percent to trade at P5.37.
For the fifth year straight, the DCI has been on a downward trend, falling by 11.3 percent in 2016, before recovering slightly in 2017 with a 5.8 percent loss but and continued to stumble over the years, with average losses a bit over 11 percent. In 2019, the DCI narrowed losses to 4.6 percent and while 2020 begun strongly for the BSE, it ended the challenging year with the index down by 8.4 percent.
