(Ecofin Agency) - The market capitalization of Casablanca stock exchange has decreased by MAD 50 billion ($5.21 billion), according to figures published on January 2, 2019, by the Moroccan specialized website Le Boursier. 

This drop is mainly due to the decline of the price of the stock of many important listed companies like the real estate company Alliance (-58%) Addoha (- 48%) and Dar Saada (-35%), the same source revealed.

It however obscured the good performances of SMEs like HPS (+54%), Dari Couspate (+40%) and M2M Group (+24%).

The general index of this stock exchange, Masi, ended 2018 with a counter-performance of -8.27%, to 11364.31 points against a 6.39% rise in 2017.  

The volume of transactions also decreased. In the central market, the exchange of shares was MAD 37.1 billion during the period under review while a year earlier (2017), it was MAD 39.5 billion, representing a decrease of 6%. OTC or off-exchange trades recorded the highest drop: from MAD 24 billion in 2017, it fell to MAD 8.8 billion in 2018.

According to analysts, the poor performances of the Casablanca stock exchange during the period under review can be mainly explained by the declining sentiment of investors in the wake of the movement to boycott three high consumption products (the mineral water Sidi Ali, Afriquia gas and Danone milk) by Moroccans who were protesting against the living costs.  

The loss of confidence of some foreign investors and the unfavorable economic context (marked by a slowdown of the economic growth) negatively affected the performance of the market.