DAR ES SALAAM: THE equity market maintained a steady momentum of activity during the week ending November 14, with total turnover rising to 5.6bn/-, a 9.8 per cent increase from the preceding week.
Market leadership remained familiar, with CRDB once again anchoring liquidity and contributing 44.95 per cent of total equity turnover.
Activity broadened modestly across the board, with counters like DSE (1.13bn/- ), Afriprise (714.77m/-), NICO (432.1m/-) and NMB (293.17m/-), reflecting a gradual re-engagement of both retail and institutional investors after the election pause.
In terms of price performance, the week produced a noticeable dispersion across counters. MCB led the gainers with an 18.92 per cent appreciation, followed by Tanzania Tea Packers (+11.11 per cent), KCB (+9.32 per cent), MBP (+6.87 per cent) and TBL (+4.11 per cent).
Meanwhile, Precision Air recorded the steepest decline at 12.12 per cent, with additional pullbacks in MKCB (–8.60 per cent), TCC (–7.79 per cent), DCB (–5.66 per cent and SWISS (–4.71 per cent).
The divergence in performance underscores the shifting momentum and preferences of both retail flows and foreign investors.
CRDB continues to appear to be the retail investors’ favourite despite strong competition from its closest competitor in the banking space, NMB, as evidenced by the latest Q3 2025 Financial Results.
For the week ending November 14, 2025, not only did CRDB account for 44.95 per cent of the week’s total equity turnover, the counter also accounted for 61.3 per cent of all deals that occurred in the said week.
In contrast, NMB represented only 5.23 per cent of total equity weekly turnover, with a modest 4 per cent share of total market deals.
Part of CRDB’s dominance amongst retail investors probably lies in how retail investors have interpreted its third quarter performance as the bank appears to be continuing to execute a more expansionary playbook.
The bank delivered a 27 per cent year on year growth in net income, reaching 520bn/- driven by expansion in its loan book and a meaningful increase in its interest income. Furthermore, the quarterly results highlighted that the bank’s total assets increased by 28 per cent.
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However, these gains came at the expense of liquidity as operating cash flow fell by 61 per cent, a by product of capital being absorbed into lending, investments and balance sheet expansion. Despite the pocket of risks that one might see in the counter, the retail sentiment appears largely unfazed.
If anything, investors appear to be rewarding the willingness of the firm to pursue a more ambitious growth strategy, interpreting the short term liquidity strain as a natural cost of long term value creation.
The bank’s expansionary strategy, despite its risks, positions the bank to capture outsized opportunities as the financial sector continues to formalise and deepen.
Turning to fixed income, the secondary bond market experienced a pronounced slowdown.
Total traded face value fell 46.37 per cent weekon-week to 73.36bn/- across 70 deals. Long-dated government securities continued to dominate, with the 25-year bond (13.75 per cent coupon) trading 40.7bn/- in face value at a weighted average yield of 12.3324 per cent.
By number of trades, the 20-year government paper (15.49 per cent coupon) led with 23 deals totalling 10.516bn/-, clearing at an average yield of 13.8176 per cent.
The persistent appetite for the long end of the curve, in an environment of declining yields, continues to reaffirm investors’ preference for duration and safety of treasury instruments amidst current interest rate environment.
This theme was reinforced by the Central Bank’s 15-year Treasury bond auction held on November 12. With a 12.75 per cent coupon, the paper attracted overwhelming demand.
Against a combined offer of 165.49bn/-, the auction received 797.9bn/- in tenders, marking an oversubscription of more than 630bn/-.
Ultimately, 191.8bn/- was accepted as successful bids as the weighted average yield landed at 12.0794 per cent. Such strong appetite reflects abundant liquidity and confidence in the government’s fiscal trajectory.
In comparison, the last 15 year government paper was issued on 20th August and carried with it a coupon rate of 14.5 per cent along with a treasury yield of 13.907 per cent, thus marking a 182.76 basis points drop in weighted average yield thus indicating that the central bank is still comfortable with maintaining its interest rate decline as evidenced by the decline in both the coupon rate and yield for the tenor.
Overall, the week’s developments point to a market that is recalibrating smoothly after the election cycle, with domestic liquidity acting as a stabilising anchor across asset classes.
Banking sector earnings have reinforced investor confidence, fixed income markets continue to absorb liquidity efficiently and the long end of the yield curve remains the dominant destination for risk-averse capital.
With monetary conditions still accommodative and economic indicators trending favourably, the outlook remains constructive, though selective, across both equities and fixed income as we move into the final quarter of the year.