In the local market this week, the NSX Local index was down 1.11% at 472.6, and the NSX Overall Index was up 2.08% at 1543.6. As at 13 September 2022, Namibia Breweries was the largest local company on the exchange, with market capitalization of N$ 8.8 billion, followed by FirstRand Namibia with N$ 8.1 billion, Capricorn Group with N$ 5.6 billion and Mobile Telecommunications with N$ 5.3 billion. Standard Bank Namibia Holdings lead the market this week, closing at N$ 4.7 per share after growth of 6.8%, with Letshego Holdings Namibia second, closing at N$ 2.66 after growth of 0.4%. In terms of volume Capricorn Group lead the market with N$ 0.2 million worth of shares traded, with Trustco Group Holdings in second place with N$ 0.1 million worth of shares traded. The local currency lost 0.88% against the US Dollar, to close at N$ 17.44 per USD, and lost 0.65% against the British Pound, to close at N$ 20.04 per GBP. It closed at N$ 17.39 against the Euro, a loss of 1.55%.
The Namibia Statistics Agency released the Trade Statistics Bulletin for July 2022, and revealed that trade during the month decreased by 3.9%, with N$ 18.9 billion in trade compared to N$ 19.6 billion in June 2022. This is higher than the N$ 10.9 billion recorded in July 2021. Exports decreased by 14.8% to N$ 7.3 billion, with imports increasing by 4.9% to N$ 11.6 billion. As a result, the country recorded a trade deficit of N$ 4.3 billion, growing from N$ 2.5 billion in June. The decrease in exports was mainly due to exports of uranium decreasing by N$ 652 million, fish decreasing by N$ 301 million, precious stones (diamonds) decreasing by N$ 250 million, ores and concentrates of base metals decreasing by N$ 78 million, and printed matter decreasing by N$ 73 million. The increase in imports was mainly due to imports of copper ores and concentrates increasing by N$ 1.4 billion, ores and concentrates of precious metals increasing by N$ 693 million, precious stones(diamonds) increasing by N$ 126 million, motor vehicles for the transportation of goods, increasing by N$ 91 million, and alcoholic beverages increasing by N$ 70 million. Botswana was Namibia’s largest export market (20.5%), with South Africa as Namibia’s largest import market (36.2%). Namibia’s seaports accounted for the majority of both imports (47.9%) as well as exports (35%).
