USE registers slowdown in trading activity

Performance at the Uganda Securities Exchange slowed down during April partly due to Covid-19.  

In Summary

• According to the notice, if a company elects to hold a virtual annual general meeting, it will have to submit a notice to USE in regard to how the meeting will be executed.

By Ashita Chopra

Performance at the Uganda Securities Exchange slowed down during April partly due to Covid-19.
The fall was noticeable in the movement of the All Share Trade Index, which determines the average value of share prices of all companies on a stock exchange.
In the period, All Share Trade Index dropped to 1362.06 points 2020 compared to 1800.72 points in January while Local Share Index dropped to 341.63 points compared to 350.25 points in January.

Speaking during a briefing on the outlook and impact resulting from the Covid-19 related lockdown, Mr Paul Bwiso, the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE) chief executive officer, said most traders, who are international investors, had stayed away due to lockdowns, noting “we are putting mechanisms in place to have them back through new measures such as the electronic account opening module.
The exchange, which had witnessed an increase in turnover during March, registered a drastic decline to Shs1.41b in April.

Stanbic and Umeme, which have for years accounted for the highest traded shares, were the most active counters with Umeme accounting for 93.76 per cent of traded turnover while Stanbic accounted for 6.8 per cent in April.
Umeme accounted for 60.65 per cent of traded volumes while Stanbic Bank accounted for 38.86 per cent in the period.
Dfcu Bank, Cipla, NIC and New Vision all accounted for 1 per cent for both volume and turnover.

During the same briefing, which was conducted on Zoom, USE also noted that it was in consultation with Capital Markets Authority to conclude on how companies should hold virtual Annual General Meetings.
Ms Alison Kwikiriza, the USE manager of legal and compliance, said they had sent out official market notices rescheduling the moratorium that had been placed on annual general meeting.

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