Weekly Stock Market Review
The past week saw the Tunindex decline by 0.47% to 9,794.99 points, with four out of five trading sessions ending in the red. Yesterday was the only positive day. This marks the second consecutive decline, but the market remains up 11.94% since the beginning of the year. Similarly, the Tunindex20 fell by 0.54% over the week, but still stands at +13.28% since January.
Banks contributed 0.27% to this decline, accounting for 57.4% of the total. It's clear that investors are worried that the pressure of taxation will affect banks' ability to maintain their profit growth pace. In our opinion, bank profits will globally decrease, but only by a single digit. Moreover, their ability to distribute dividends will remain intact. We're accustomed to limitations on shareholder remuneration in the banking sector, a recommendation renewed this week by the Macroprudential Supervision Committee. There won't be any disappointment on this front, but it's essential to carefully select the titles to invest in.
The trading volume reached 43,899 MTND, with a daily average of 8,779 MTND, significantly higher than the overall exercise. The top weekly performers were Ciments de Bizerte (8.89%), Cellcom (6.96%), and Sotemail (6.38%). The main declines were seen in STIP (-20.1%), UADH (-11.76%), and SPDIT-Sicaf (-10.57%).
The market is heading towards a calm year-end, without any major surprises. It's time to position oneself for those who want to implement a dividend strategy. Playing on market movements to realize capital gains is quite risky in the absence of genuine growth drivers.
