Shilling closes week on a high

The shilling strengthened during Friday’s session to close the day at the 3725/3735 levels from opening levels of 3740/3750, a report by Catherine Kijjagulwe, Head of Trading at Absa Bank Uganda indicates.

The session was quiet overall with healthy flows from NGOs and interbank sellers against limited demand. Overnight yields traded at averages of 10.83%. Money Markets were liquid throughout the day. Bank of Uganda is scheduled to hold a Treasury Bill auction on Wednesday 7th December 2022.

As businesses start to slowly slow down and head into the festivities, the Market still anticipates healthy flows that are likely to keep the unit within the 3700-3780 trading range in the short term until real demand picks up again after the festivities.

Money Markets were fairly liquid during the week with overnight yields trading within the 9.50% – 11.50%. Bank of Uganda held a UGX 550 billion 5-year and 20-year Treasury Bond auction on Wednesday and yields cleared at averages of 16.250% and 17.000%  respectively. Bank of Uganda is scheduled to hold a Treasury Bill auction on Wednesday 7th December 2022.

Continued demand for dollars kept the Kenya shilling weak trading within the 122.00-126.00. The Central Bank did not intervene on the sell side but continues to urge market players to support the Oil sector. The Kenya shilling is still likely to remain weak within the 122.00 – 126.00 trading levels. 

The dollar was marginally weak on Thursday affected by a couple of economic releases like the October consumer spending inflation that was at 0.8% and jobless claims data printed at 225k from an expectation of 235k. These further continue to tally with the Federal Reserve’s anticipated slow pace of rate hikes in the coming months.

The Euro was strong on Thursday riding on a relatively weak dollar touching highs of $1.0533 and closing the day at $1.0522.

The Pound followed suit and also strengthened to trade above $1.2300 and later closed the day at $1.2253.

Crude oil prices continued to trade below $90 a barrel during the week as the Market continues to hope for the easing of Covid lockdown measures in China that will help bolster demand in the coming months. Brent Crude traded at $86.90 a barrel and West Texas Intermediate at $81.03 a barrel. Gold traded at $1802 an ounce.

Weekly Market Update by Crested Capital:

Across the week’s trading, total turnover dropped to Ugx537.09Mn ($143,680) from Ugx1.79Bn ($480,436) traded last week.

Volumes moved declined to 3.29Mn from 10.66Mn shares with six active counters.

MTN Uganda (MTNU) was the most traded counter with Ugx362.39Mn ($96,944) in turnover from 2.12Mn shares traded at Ugx180.00, Umeme Limited (UMEM) exchanged Ugx166.04Mn ($44,418) from 0.79Mn shares at Ugx210.00 and Stanbic Holdings Uganda (SBU) moved Ugx7.45Mn ($1,994) from 367,439 shares traded at Ugx21.00.

dfcu Limited (DFCU) led the smaller deals with a turnover of Ugx0.98Mn ($262) from 1,803 shares and its share price declined by 0.18% to Ugx543.00, Uganda Clays Limited (UCL) traded Ugx0.17Mn ($45) from 11,111 shares traded at Ugx15.00 and Baroda Uganda (BOBU) exchanged Ugx68,000 ($18) from 1,650 shares at Ugx85.00. 

Among the cross listed, Jubilee Holdings Limited gained 2.73%, KCB Group added 1.23% and Centum Investments rose by 0.90% on its share price.  Nation Media Group led the laggards dropping by 3.16%, East African Breweries Limited shed by 0.55% and Equity Group Holdings declined by 0.21%.

The USE All Share Index (ALSI) appreciated 0.37% to 1,220.93 while the C10, Crested’s local companies’ index shed 0.01% to 94.94.

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