In the local market this week, the NSX Local index was up 0.08% at 504.9, and the NSX Overall Index was up 1.16% at 1705.9. As at 6 December 2022, Namibia Breweries was the largest local company on the exchange, with market capitalization of N$ 9.5 billion, followed by FirstRand Namibia with N$ 8.6 billion, Capricorn Group with N$ 6.8 billion and Mobile Telecommunications with N$ 5.3 billion. Standard Bank Namibia Holdings lead the market this week, closing at N$ 4.31 per share after growth of 2.6%, with Mobile Telecommunications second, closing at N$ 7.03 after growth of 0.1%. In terms of volume FirstRand Namibia lead the market with N$ 2.7 million worth of shares traded, with Namibia Breweries in second place with N$ 1.4 million worth of shares traded. The local currency lost 1.94% against the US Dollar, to close at N$ 17.32 per USD, and lost 3.55% against the British Pound, to close at N$ 21.02 per GBP. It closed at N$ 18.13 against the Euro, a loss of 3.34%.
The Namibia Statistics Agency released the Trade Statistics Bulletin for October 2022, and revealed that the trade deficit during the month decreased by 33.5%, with a N$ 1.7 billion trade deficit compared to N$ 2.6 billion in September 2022. This is lower than the N$ 5.1 billion deficit recorded in October 2021. Exports decreased by 10.2% to N$ 7.8 billion, with imports decreasing by 15.5% to N$ 9.5 billion. The decrease in exports was mainly due to exports of precious stones (diamonds) decreasing by N$1.8 billion, copper ores and concentrates decreasing by N$201 million, ores and concentrates of base metals decreasing by N$165 million, inorganic chemical elements decreasing by N$143 million and printed matters decreasing by N$138 million. The decrease in imports was mainly due to imports of petroleum oils decreasing by N$1.7 billion, precious stones (diamonds) decreasing by N$575 million, wheat decreasing by N$206 million, medicaments decreasing by N$126 million, and telecommunications equipment decreasing by N$104 million. China was Namibia’s largest export market (29.1%), with South Africa as Namibia’s largest import market (48.3%). Namibia’s seaports accounted for the majority of exports (52.4%), with imports done mainly via road (60.5%).
