The local market was active this week, with the NSX Local index up 0.5% at 418, and the NSX Overall Index up 2.77% at 1370. As at 2 March, Namibia Breweries was the largest local company on the exchange, with market capitalization of N$ 6.4 billion, followed by FirstRand Namibia with N$ 6.2 billion, Capricorn Group with N$ 5.2 billion and Trustco Group with N$ 3.8 billion. Standard Bank Namibia lead the market this week with growth of 10.46% to close at N$ 7.39 per share, with Namibia Asset Management in second place at N$ 0.63 per share after growth of 1.61%. In terms of volume Standard Bank Namibia again lead the market with N$ 388 thousand worth of shares traded, with FirstRand Namibia in second place with N$ 223 thousand worth of shares traded. The local currency lost 2.72% against the US Dollar, to close at N$ 14.93 per USD, and lost 1.56% against the British Pound, to close at N$ 20.83 per GBP. It closed at N$ 18.05 against the Euro, a loss of 2.21.
The Namibia Statistics Agency released the Annual Trade Statistics Bulletin for 2020, and revealed that trade during the year was lower by 3.7%, with N$ 197 billion in trade compared to N$ 204.5 billion in 2019. Exports reduced by 3.8% to N$ 88.7 billion from N$ 92.2 billion in 2019, with imports dropping by 3.5% to N$ 108.3 billion from 112.2 billion in 2019. As a result, the country recorded a trade deficit of N$ 19.6 billion for 2020, an improvement of the N$ 20 billion deficit recorded in 2019. China was Namibia’s largest export market (36%), while South Africa was Namibia’s largest import market (38.1%). Most export goods left via seaports (55%), while 68.2% of imports were done via road.
