BRVM falls 1.06% as financials weigh despite Sonatel support

The BRVM Composite fell 1.06% to 473.48 points on July 20, while the BRVM Composite Total Return lost 1.06% to 187.97 points and the BRVM-30 slipped 1.08% to 225.24 points. The decline was driven by financials, whose index dropped 2.07% to 225.78 points, while the main board lost 2.06% to 355.38 points, despite a 2.74% rise in discretionary consumption to 202.18 points and a 1.30% gain in utilities to 228.47 points. Sonatel still featured prominently in the news flow after GCR raised its credit rating to the region’s highest level, according to Dabafinance, while Capmad reported moves to strengthen the Gandoul teleport against Starlink and Kuiper and We are Tech reported Max it’s connection to Dakar’s bus rapid transit network. In financials, Ecobank drew several headlines with a 15 million euro trade-finance line opened by the EBRD via Ecobank in Senegal, according to Capmad, its position as the first Senegalese bank financed by the EBRD, according to Agence Ecofin, and the launch of prepaid Visa cards in Niger with NITA, according to Agence Ecofin.