Tunis Stock Exchange — TUNINDEX Falls 0.50% for July 20-24 Week as Financials Beat Materials
The TUNINDEX slipped 0.50% in the week of July 20-24, 2026, hit by materials and consumer names while financial services rose 0.45%. Q2 updates from STB, PGH and SFBT underscored a more selective market as high oil prices and a weaker dinar shaped sentiment.
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Tunisia’s equity market ended the July 20-24, 2026 week in a more defensive mood, with the TUNINDEX down 0.50% at 20,847.19 points and the TUNINDEX20 off 0.53% at 9,199.34 points. The clearest split came from sector performance: Financial Services rose 0.45%, while areas more exposed to imported inputs and household demand weakened, led by Basic Materials (-1.91%) and Household & Personal Care (-1.36%).
That rotation did not happen in a vacuum. Brent crude fell 4.9% on Friday to $95.74 a barrel, but it still posted a 7.3% weekly gain, while the Tunisian dinar weakened to 3.3637 per euro, a 2.69% move on the week, and to 2.9545 per dollar, up 0.87%. For Tunisia, a net energy importer, that combination matters: higher oil and a softer currency raise the cost of fuel, raw materials and imported equipment at the same time, which helps explain why industrial and consumer names lagged even as financial stocks held up better.
Key figures
- TUNINDEX: 20,847.19 points (-0.50% for the week)
The weekly decline looks modest when set against the market’s broader 2026 run. The TUNINDEX is still up 55.0% year to date, while the TUNINDEX20 has gained 53.96%, leaving Tunis among the strongest-performing African exchanges this year. But that sharp advance also raises the bar for second-quarter disclosures: after gains of more than 50%, investors are less willing to overlook weak operating trends and more inclined to reward companies with clearer margin visibility.
Market breadth confirmed that selective tone. Out of 75 listed stocks, 35 fell, against 20 gainers and 20 unchanged. In other words, the index decline was not driven by one heavyweight alone; it reflected broader pressure across several pockets of the market. In a Tunisia market recap, that usually signals digestion rather than a full reversal, especially after year-to-date gains above 60% in banks (+64.92%), insurance (+63.85%) and the broader financial complex (+65.14%).
Financials cushion the market, even as STB drops
The week’s main story was the ability of financial stocks to absorb pressure elsewhere. The Banking Index fell 0.46% on Friday, yet it remains up 64.92% in 2026, while the Financial Services Index added 0.45% over the week. That resilience was closely tied to the Q2 reporting cycle, which continues to shape stock selection on the Tunis market, according to filings released through the CMF, the market regulator.
Among individual names, STB fell 4.6% to 6.20 TND after publishing its second-quarter 2026 indicators on July 23. The move showed that investors are no longer buying the banking sector indiscriminately: they are increasingly differentiating between public and private lenders, between earnings quality and execution. By contrast, UIB rose 2.3% to 36.90 TND, while ATB gained 1.8% to 3.98 TND, suggesting that part of the market still sees selected financials as relatively defensive when imported-cost pressure is building elsewhere.
There is also a macro reason for that preference. When the dinar weakens 2.69% against the euro in a week and oil stays near $96 a barrel, industrial companies tend to feel margin pressure faster than banks and financial services firms, even if lenders remain exposed to slower credit growth and asset-quality risks. In the Tunisia stock market, that difference in sensitivity to imported inputs was one of the clearest drivers of weekly performance.
Materials and consumer names weaken as oil and FX bite
Materials were the market’s weakest pocket. The Basic Materials Index fell 1.91%, though it is still up 37.46% year to date, while the Construction & Building Materials Index slipped 0.09% on Friday and remains 15.89% higher in 2026. Declines in TPR (-3.8% to 14.80 TND), SOTEMAIL (-4.2% to 2.52 TND), SOMOCER (-3.1% to 0.62 TND) and Ciments de Bizerte (-2.5% to 0.79 TND) captured that weakness.
The macro link is straightforward. Tunisian manufacturers import a significant share of their inputs, from energy to components, often priced in euros or dollars. With EUR/TND at 3.3637 and USD/TND at 2.9545, higher costs can quickly erode volume gains, especially in segments where pricing power is limited. The 1.7% drop in AIR LIQUIDE TSIE to 231.0 TND and the 1.5% decline in SAH to 13.79 TND fit the same pattern of caution around margins.
Consumer sectors did not provide much shelter either. The Household & Personal Care Index lost 1.36%, the Food & Beverage Index fell 0.63% on Friday, and the Consumer Goods Index slipped 0.77%. Yet all three remain firmly positive for the year at +2.61%, +38.18% and +29.79% respectively, which points more to valuation rotation than to a structural exit from the space. Q2 updates from SFBT, released on July 20, and from Monoprix on July 22 reinforced that increasingly selective reading of the sector.
Q2 filings set the pace, with PGH and ICF shaping comparisons
The week was busy on the regulatory front, with 20 official announcements between July 20 and July 23, mostly second-quarter activity indicators. That matters more in Tunis than in many larger markets because CMF filings remain the primary source of price-moving information, with analyst coverage still relatively limited. Reports from PGH on July 23, ICF on July 20, SMART Tunisie on July 23 and Tunis Re on July 21 therefore carried outsized weight.
ICF rose 2.7% to 144.90 TND, standing out against broader materials weakness and suggesting that investors are drawing finer distinctions within the chemical segment. Elsewhere, the market was harsher on companies where visibility on costs and demand remains weaker. ASSAD gained 4.2% to 2.51 TND after a press release published on July 23, showing that a credible corporate or regulatory catalyst can still trigger a rebound even in a pressured industrial segment.
The week’s top gainers were concentrated in smaller-cap names, reinforcing the idea that this was a stock-pickers’ market rather than a broad directional move:
•OFFICEPLAST: +5.0% at 1.69 TND
•TUNINVEST-SICAR: +4.5% at 48.07 TND
•SITS: +4.4% at 4.79 TND
•ASSAD: +4.2% at 2.51 TND
•TAWASOL GP HOLDING: +3.9% at 0.81 TND
The sharpest declines, by contrast, hit names exposed either to cost pressure or to profit-taking after strong runs:
What the TUNINDEX index is saying in late July 2026
The TUNINDEX index at this stage of July is telling a clear story: the rally is no longer indiscriminate. The strongest year-to-date sectors remain Financial Services (+70.18%), Financial Companies (+65.14%), Banks (+64.92%) and Insurance (+63.85%). More cyclical and import-dependent segments, by contrast, are showing greater sensitivity as oil rises and the dinar weakens.
That also matters for the macro reading. Tunisia’s status as a net energy importer means its external balance comes under pressure more quickly when Brent rises 7.3% in a week, even if Friday’s pullback below $100 offered some relief. A weaker dinar against the euro also weighs on companies importing machinery, packaging, chemical inputs or spare parts. Some exporters can partly offset that through currency translation, but only if external demand holds up and energy costs do not absorb the benefit.
Outlook: more CMF filings, more earnings tests, more oil sensitivity
For the coming week, the Tunis stock exchange today narrative will remain driven first by second-quarter 2026 filings and CMF announcements. Traders will also track Brent after a volatile stretch shaped by Middle East tensions and U.S.-Iran peace talks, as well as the path of EUR/TND, already up 2.69% on the week. On a market where sector gains still range from 37% to 70% year to date, each new filing is likely to matter more in separating companies that can defend margins from those more exposed to the energy-currency squeeze.
