Kazakhstan’s Stock Market Grew Faster Than Major Western Indexes

Kazakhstan’s stock indexes posted stronger results in the first quarter than leading Western benchmarks, the Association of Financiers of Kazakhstan said, Orda.kz reports.

According to the association, investor and issuer activity remained strong in January-March despite both domestic and external pressures, including the National Bank’s tight monetary policy and global sentiment shaped by the war in the Middle East.

The Kazakhstan Stock Exchange index rose 10% in the first three months of the year, while AIXQI, the index of Kazakh issuers traded on AIX, increased 18.8%. At the same time, major global indexes declined: the S&P 500 fell 4.3%, the Shanghai Composite lost 1.9%, and the MSCI World index dropped 3.5%.

This suggests a local inflow of liquidity into shares of Kazakh issuers. The entry of nonresident investors into the domestic market since last fall has also repeatedly been cited as one of the main reasons for the strengthening of the tenge. Their investments over three months increased 19%, reaching 2.3 trillion tenge.

The association also said growth in Kazakh indexes was driven by blue-chip stocks, including KazMunayGas, Kazatomprom, KazTransOil and Solidcore Resources. Their performance was supported by the external commodities environment, expectations of dividend payouts and revised cash-flow forecasts.

Activity in the secondary stock market was led by retail investors, whose share increased from 46% to 56%. The role of brokers and dealers grew more modestly, from 19% to 21%. Total assets under the management of investment companies also increased, from 1.93 trillion tenge to 1.97 trillion.

Original author: Alexey Afonsky

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