Investors flock to CRDB, TBL as year-end nears

Dar es Salaam. Investors snapped up CRDB shares on Wednesday as the bank’s equity seems to have settled on its ‘fair’ price after weeks of fluctuations.

CRDB – which is the largest bank in the country in terms of asset size and branch network – had its share trading at a weighted average price of Sh175/share during the first week of October, 2017 at the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange (DSE).

It, however, fell slightly to Sh165 per share on November 1 before dropping further to Sh160 per share during the past few days.

Analysts are of the view that the drop in prices signals a rise in supply amid a decline in demand as investors seek to keep some cash to cater for their year-end and new-year obligations.

This might have informed investors to go for the company’s shares, sending its contribution to Wednesday’s turnover up.

CRDB transacted a total of 7,011,849 shares on Wednesday at weighted average price of Sh160 per share and contribute a cool Sh1.122 billion – or 76 per cent of the day’s Sh1.47 billion turnover.

“This simply shows that investors believe the existing price is the right one for CRDB,” the Zan Securities chief executive officer, Mr Raphael Masumbuko told The Citizen yesterday.

Despite a whirlwind of non-performing loans that’s become a popular topic in the banking sector, CRDB retained its position as the country’s second most profitable bank after registering a profit after tax of Sh14 billion during the third quarter of the current calendar year.

On Tuesday, TBL emerged as the most active counter, transacting a total of 96,504 shares at a weighted average price of Sh13,300 per share to contribute a total of Sh1.284 billion to the day’s Sh1.347 billion turnover. Foreign investors dominated trading activities in the past two days.