Casablanca Stock Exchange: MASI Drops 3.44%, Its Largest Decline in Six Months

The Casablanca Stock Exchange continued its downward trend on Wednesday, following a night of protests in several cities across the Kingdom, which were marked by disturbances and acts of vandalism. Risk aversion dominated trading, leading to a substantial wave of sell-offs after a relatively calm start to the session. In this context, and following a particularly profitable earnings season for listed companies, the MASI index plunged by 3.44% to 18,371.20 points, marking its largest daily decline in six months. The MASI 20, which tracks the largest capitalizations, fell by 3.69% to 1,490.98 points. Market activity was robust, with a daily volume of 489 million dirhams. Attijariwafa Bank led the trading with 108.6 million dirhams exchanged at 725 dirhams, down 2.68%. Akdital also contributed to the session with 47 million dirhams at 1,319 dirhams, a decrease of 4.90%, while Marsa Maroc dropped 4.21% to 910 dirhams on a volume of 40 million dirhams. The market capitalization continued to decline, falling below the symbolic threshold of 1 trillion dirhams to settle at 971 billion dirhams. On the upside, Stroc Industrie stood out with a gain of 8.23% to 219.50 dirhams. Maghreb Oxygene also saw an increase of 6.27% to 417.95 dirhams. Conversely, the session was marked by significant declines among large capitalizations: BOA dropped 7.45% to 236 dirhams, Ciments du Maroc fell 7.32% to 1,900 dirhams, while BMCI and RDS decreased by 6.94% and 6.78%, respectively. In related news, the Ministry of the Interior reported a heavy toll from the protests on Tuesday, and listed companies saw a profit increase of over 52% in the first half of the year. Sanlam Maroc has also ventured into wealth management. For the dividend calendar, click here.