West Africa Regional Stock Market to Restart Ivory Coast Trading on May 16
The West African regional stock market will resume trading in Abidjan, Ivory Coast’s commercial capital, on May 16, after the country’s violent post-election crisis eased.
Trading on the exchange, which relocated to Bamako, Mali in February, has picked up since the security situation improved in Abidjan and banks in the city reopened their branches, Abdelkader N’Diaye, information systems director of the Bourse Regionale des Valeurs Mobilieres, said by phone today.
Security forces loyal to ex-President Laurent Gbagbo seized the BRVM’s offices and trading on the exchange was halted from Feb. 11 until it reopened in Bamako March 1. Activity on the bourse more than halved as bank branches closed in Ivory Coast over insecurity.
Gbagbo, who refused to cede power to his rival Alassane Ouattara after losing a disputed November presidential election, was captured in Abidjan April 11. Lenders have reopened their branches over the past week as the security situation calmed.
The BRVM’s composite index of 38 companies declined 0.3 percent to 153.06 today, according to a statement on the bourse’s website. Companies from francophone West African nations and Guinea-Bissau trade their shares on the BRVM.
Senegal’s Sonatel (SNTS) SA, a telecommunications company, is the biggest by market value. Eight banks, including Lome-based Ecobank Transnational Inc. (ETIT), are listed.
To contact the reporter on this story: Pauline Bax in Abidjan via Accra at ebowers1@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net.
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