Tunis: The Tunindex, the Tunis Stock Exchange's benchmark index, resumed its upward trend, posting a 4.88% increase as of May 17, 2024, after having started the year 2024 down (-3.82% in January), Lotfi Khezami, the Tunis Stock Exchange's communications director, said on Wednesday at a press conference held at the Stock Exchange's headquarters. The Tunindex20, made up of the 20 largest and most liquid stocks on the market, also followed this upward trend, rising by 7.15% on the same date. Compared with the end of 2023, market capitalisation also gained 2%, to TND 437 million. By contrast, as of May 17, overall trading volume was down 2.9% at TND 955 million, while trading volume on the stock exchange was down 40.6% at TND 465 million. The average daily volume fell to TND 5 million compared with TND 8.3 million during the same period in 2023. However, the rate of foreign participation in the stock market, increased slightly by 0.3% compared to the end of 2023. Total income of listed companies up 2.4% in Q1 2024 By April 20, 2024, the regulatory deadline for publication, only 27 listed companies (35% of the List), had reported their Q1 2024 indicators. This number has now risen to 71, or 92% of the List. The companies that have not yet published their indicators are AETECH, ALKIMIA, ELECTROSTAR, GIF FILTER, MIP and UADH. The activity indicators of listed companies in the first quarter of 2024 show an increase in their total revenues by 2.4% compared to the same period in 2023, reaching TND 6 billion. 68% of the companies that published their indicators, i.e. 48 out of 71, improved their cumulative revenues. The 20 companies that make up the Tunindex20 earned TND 3.8 billion (or 64% of total revenues), an increase of 1.4% compared to the same period last year. Revenues increased in 5 sectors. The best performers were telecommunications (18.8%), technology (12.4%) and health (8.3%). Of the 12 sub-sectors, 7 showed a positive performance. The strongest performers were Financial Services (10.5%), Retail (9.2%) and Management and Personal Care (9%). 33 listed companies have decided or proposed dividends for 2023 By April 30, 2024, the regulatory deadline for the publication of the annual results of listed companies, 24 listed companies had published their financial statements (individual or consolidated), representing 31% of the list. To date, 43 companies have published their 2023 results, representing 55% of the list. Of the companies that have organised or scheduled their annual general meetings (AGMs), 33 have decided or proposed the distribution of dividends. In the financial sector, the 12 listed banks achieved a total profit of TND 1,543 million, up 8.5% compared to 2022. The 7 listed leasing companies recorded an increase of 25.6% in their total annual profit, which reached TND 105 million compared to TND 83.8 million in the previous year. Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse