The local market was relatively quiet this week, with the NSX Local index up 0.27% at 445, and the NSX Overall Index down 1.6% at 1336. As at 6 April, Capricorn Group was the largest local company on the exchange, with market capitalization of N$ 7 billion, followed by Namibia Breweries with N$ 6.4 billion, FirstRand Namibia with N$ 6.3 billion and Standard Bank Namibia with N$ 4.2 billion. Trustco Group lead the market this week with growth of 2% to close at N$ 2.55 per share, with Capricorn Group in second place at N$ 13.50 per share after growth of 1.89%. In terms of volume FirstRand Namibia lead the market with N$ 705 thousand worth of shares traded, with Namibia Breweries in second place with N$ 592 thousand worth of shares traded. The local currency gained 2.66% against the US Dollar, to close at N$ 14.52 per USD, and gained 2.05% against the British Pound, to close at N$ 20.07 per GBP. It closed at N$ 17.24 against the Euro, a gain of 1.32%.
The preliminary National Accounts for 2020 were released by the Namibia statistics Agency, and revealed that in 2020, the Namibian economy contracted by 8%, the highest contraction since 1981. Secondary industries such as manufacturing lead the contraction, with a contraction 14.4%, but primary industries also contracted by 6.1% and Tertiary industries contracted by 5.6%. In the secondary industries, manufacturing (-19.6%) and construction (-11.8%) saw the worst declines, while in the primary sectors mining (-14.9%) recorded the biggest decline, but agriculture, forestry and fishing showed growth of 5.9%. Overall, both private and government consumption declined by 9.3% and 1.5% respectively. Nominal GDP was down N$ 5.2 billion from 2019, at N$ 176.3 billion.
