Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) investors lost about K380 billion in equity market value in October, as continued share price declines pushed the Malawi All Share Index (Masi) further into negative territory.
The MSE October 2026 Monthly Market Performance Report shows that market capitalisation declined from K27.30 trillion in September to K26.92 trillion in October.
The decline came as the Masi dropped by 1.42 percent, from 490,269.10 points to 483,326.63 points, extending its year-to-date loss to 19.18 percent.
The latest performance indicates that the stock market is yet to recover from the prolonged downward trend that has characterised trading this year, with all but one of the 17 listed companies recording share price losses during the month.
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TNM registered the steepest decline, with its share price falling by 17.96 percent, followed by Old Mutual Malawi, which lost 10.80 percent.
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Other notable declines were recorded by Continental Holdings Limited at 4.28 percent, Sunbird Tourism at 2.86 percent and National Bank of Malawi at 2.79 percent.
The report shows that 16 companies recorded losses while Mpico was the only counter whose share price remained unchanged, as no company registered a gain during the month.
Despite the decline in share prices, trading activity presented a mixed picture, with the volume of shares traded increasing while the value of transactions fell sharply.
A total of 18.54 million shares changed hands in October, representing a 9.72 percent increase from 16.90 million shares traded in September.
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However, the value of transactions plunged by 74.99 percent to K2.61 billion from K10.43 billion recorded in the preceding month.
The number of transactions also declined by 26.74 percent, from 2,925 to 2,143, reflecting reduced trading activity in monetary terms.
On individual counters, Old Mutual Malawi led in terms of value traded, recording K854.39 million, followed by Press Corporation Limited at K375.33 million and TNM at K234.90 million.
TNM dominated trading by volume, accounting for 9.89 million shares, followed by Blantyre Hotels Limited at 3.58 million shares and Icon Properties at 1.40 million shares.
Meanwhile, the domestic share index also declined by 1.60 percent to 360,084.09 points while the foreign share index fell by 0.49 percent to 89,120.42 points.
In the debt securities market, there were no secondary market transactions during the month, despite the government having 77 listed debt securities comprising nine development bonds and 68 Treasury notes with a combined nominal value of K4.05 trillion.
MSE Chief Executive Officer John Kamanga said the dip being experienced this year is normal for the market, which has experienced such volatilities before.
“It is normal for a market to actually experience those dips,” Kamanga said.
He further attributed price falls to excess supply of shares on the market, which has been created following the Registrar of Financial Institutions’ Financial Services (Investment Management of Life Insurers and Pension Funds) Directive of 2025, which imposed a maximum threshold of 60 percent on investments in listed companies for pension fund managers and life insurers.
