Investors looking for opportunities in Africa’s capital markets can expect some of the highest returns in the world south of the Sahara.
According to InvestingInAfrica.net, a website that monitors African stock markets, as of November 30 the Malawi Stock Exchange had a 71 percent rate of return – in U.S. dollar terms – for 2013, the highest among the continent’s top performers.
The Ghana Stock Exchange came in a distant second at 49.3 percent, followed by Kenya’s Nairobi Securities Exchange (48.6 percent), Uganda Securities Exchange (42.9 percent), and Zimbabwe Stock Exchange (39.8 percent).
InvestinAfrica.net also reports that seven markets in sub-Saharan Africa (Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières – serving Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, Togo; Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange; Zambia’s Lusaka Stock Exchange; Nairobi Securities Exchange; Namibian Stock Exchange; Nigerian Stock Exchange; and Zimbabwe Stock Exchange) had three-year returns of at least 30 percent in dollar terms, with four of them (BRVM, Dar es Salaam, Nairobi, and Nigeria) above 40 percent and two of them (Dar es Salaam and Nigeria) above 50 percent.
Dar es Salaam topped the list with a whopping 57.3 percent three-year return.
This year’s General Assembly and annual conference of the African Securities Exchanges Association, the premier association of 24 securities exchanges in Africa, is focusing on a major theme for the continent’s economic future: “From promises to achievements: key role of capital markets,”
The gathering of policy makers, central bank governors, African and international financiers, actors of capital investment and economic observers, convened on December 1 in Abidjan, the economic capital of Côte d’Ivoire and BRVM headquarters. IT will end on Dec. 4.
The organizers hope that, “after a year full of changes and upheavals” in a continent in full economic development, the ASEA conference will give a clear picture of the role, place and perspectives of capital markets.
Below is a list of the ten top-performing stock markets, as reported today by IunvestInAfrica.net.
|
MARKET INDEX |
1-YEAR RETURN* |
YTD** RETURN* |
AVG. WEEKLY TRADE VOLUME |
|
Malawi Stock Exchange |
69.9% |
71.0% |
$0.4 million |
|
Ghana Stock Exchange |
57.9% |
49.3% |
$4.5 million |
|
Nairobi Securities Exchange |
52.0% |
48.6% |
$36.9 million |
|
Uganda Securities Exchange |
44.3% |
42.9% |
$0.6 million |
|
Zimbabwe Stock Exchange |
41.9% |
39.8% |
$8.3 million |
|
Nigerian Stock Exchange |
46.2% |
37.9% |
$122.3 million |
|
Bourse Régionale des Valeurs Mobilières |
40.1% |
34.8% |
$4.5 million |
|
Lusaka Stock Exchange |
34.0% |
29.0% |
$0.6 million |
|
Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange |
30.8% |
28.5% |
$8.5 million |
|
Stock Exchange of Mauritius |
25.7% |
19.3% |
$5.8 million |
|
S&P 500 |
27.5% |
26.6% |
N/A |
* U.S. dollar-adjusted returns as of November 30, 2013
** Year to date
