The Abidjan-based Regional Securities Exchange closed on Tuesday 20 October down 0.94%, its Composite index falling to 524.52 points, in a session dominated by trading in Sonatel.
The Senegalese operator accounted for CFA francs 4.29 billion of transactions, or 77.47% of equity trading, according to the Sika Finance tally. This segment recorded a total of CFA francs 5.54 billion in operations. These amounts measure purchases and sales of listed securities, not capital raised by companies.
The decline affected the three main indices tracked by the market. The BRVM 30 lost 0.84%, to 254.01 points, while the BRVM Prestige fell 1%, to 194.26 points, according to official data. Market capitalisation of equities came to CFA francs 20,569 billion, according to the BRVM.
The decline was also more widely spread than the rise. RichBourse counts 22 companies down, 15 up and 11 unchanged among the 48 listed stocks. Two had no transactions and kept their last known price.
The BRVM also announced the stock split of the Sonatel share for 26 October, at a ratio of ten new shares for one old share.