MARKET SLIGHTLY EASES IN MARCH

MBABANE - The Eswatini Stock Exchange (ESE) ended March 2025 with a small drop in overall value, but trading activity picked up compared to the previous month.

According to the latest month-end report, the total value of all companies listed on the ESE (market capitalisation) dropped by 0.13 per cent, falling from E6.864 billion in February to E6.855 billion in March. This slight decrease came after changes in the share prices of two companies—Swazi Empowerment Limited (SEL), which saw a dip and SBC Limited, which posted a minor increase.

However, on a year-on-year basis, the market is still stronger than it was in 2024. Compared to March last year, the ESE’s total market value has grown by 3.04 per cent, which is a sign that investor confidence is slowly returning. Perhaps the most encouraging sign in the report was a rise in trading activity. After no shares were traded in February, March saw shares worth E191 289 exchanged. While this is still a far cry from the E5.48 million traded in March 2024, it shows that some life is returning to the local stock market.

Three companies were behind all the March trading: SEL (E148 000 worth of shares traded), Greystone Partners (E34 289) and SBC Limited (E9 000). A total of 15 085 shares were bought and sold on the exchange in the month. There are still nine companies listed on the ESE, all of them local. First National Bank Eswatini (FNBE) remains the biggest company on the exchange, making up almost 29 per cent of the market’s total value, followed by Royal Eswatini Sugar Corporation (RES) at nearly 24 per cent.

Gain

Only two companies saw their share prices change in March. SBC’s share price went up by 1.12 per cent, while SEL’s fell by 2.84 per cent. The prices of the other seven companies remained unchanged during the month. Looking back over the year, Nkonyeni Pre-cast Limited has had the biggest gain, with its share price jumping by 25 per cent. RES followed with an 11.84 per cent gain, SWAPROP with 6.67 per cent and Nedbank with 3.45 per cent. However, not all companies had a good year. Inala Capital’s share price dropped by 20 per cent, while SEL’s was down 5.13 per cent.

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