Mauritius Bourse Sees Influx Of Foreign Capital

by Lorys Charalambous, for LawAndTax-News.com, Cyprus

20 January 2006

The stock exchange of Mauritius, which joined the World Federation of Exchanges recently, is seeing the hoped-for influx of foreign capital, with its SEMTRI index gaining 32 points since the beginning of the year to close at a record high of 1,984 at the end of last week.

The SEMDEX index has gained 13 points since the beginning of the year, closing last week at 817 points. The key SEM-7 index, which consists of the top seven quoted stocks, ended the week at 179 points. Capitalization of the exchange reached 81 bn rupees, representing 43.3% of GNP.

Trading last week totalled 34.5 million rupees, with the highest volumes being seen for State Bank of Mauritius (SBM), Rogers, New Mauritius Hotels (NMH) and Mauritius Development Investment Trust (MDIT).

Out of 44 listed stocks, 15 closed up on the week, 23 were unchanged, and 6 fell.

The flow of foreign investment into the exchange began late last year, and has continued to accelerate so far this year, with 22 million rupees arriving in the first two weeks of January.

The market is trading at a PE ratio of 8.1, and returns 4.57% at current valuations.

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