KASE Index falls for the first time this year

KASE index, the key stock market index in Kazakhstan, reported a 1.9% decline in May after a 6.2% surge in April. Over the past three years, this is the first time the index has decreased. According to the platform’s data, six companies on the index have shown negative results.

Kazatomprom and Halyk Bank report the steepest decline in stock value

The uranium producer Kazatomprom has reported a 6.1% decline to $28.24 per share, the biggest plunge in stock value within the index. Even though, the company also reported twofold growth in quarterly income to $853.2 million and a 76% increase in earnings to $244.5 million it hasn’t added optimism to the market. Moreover, the pessimism is growing despite Kazatomprom’s announcement of dividend payouts. On May 25, the company said that it would pay $1.67 per share or $450 million. The uranium producer also said that Neil Longfellow, the current independent director and chairman of the company’s board of directors, will step down on June 21, 2023.

Halyk Bank reported a 4.8% decline in its stock value to $0.33 per share. This stock has been highly volatile before and even after the dividend payout decision. At the end of April, the bank said it would think about dividend payouts in an attempt to improve the mood of investors. In May, Halyk Bank announced it would allocate $619.8 million for dividend payouts, half of its net profit. Later, Freedom Broker reported a 9% plunge in the bank’s stock value.

KEGOC reported a 2.65% decline in its stocks to $3.53 per share. The company has paid dividend payouts of $67.5 million or 112.8% of its net profit for the year 2022. The dividend per share amounted to $0.26 per share.

KazMunayGas, another big short of the stock market in Kazakhstan, reported a 1.8% decline in the value of its stocks to $224.84. On May 29, the company revealed its financial results for Q1 2023. During that period, its revenue dropped by 15% to $4.7 billion while the net profit declined by 13% to $643.8 million. In the middle of May, the company’s board of directors recommended the company allocate about $671.8 million for dividend payouts.

Even Kaspi reported a decline in its stocks by 0.75% to $82.23 per share. At the end of May, the fintech company said it would pay $1.68 per share in its dividend payouts.

The national ICT operator Kazakhtelecom reported a 0.33% decline in its stock to $66.96 in May. Last month, the company said that it would spend $3.3 billion for the deployment of the 5G network within Kazakhstan.

Bank CenterCredit (BCC) stocks declined just slightly by 0.2%, to $1.53. In the middle of May, the bank said it wouldn’t pay dividend payouts for 2022. At the time, BBC also revealed that the acquisition of Alfa Bank cost the bank $111.9 million. According to available data, BCC managed to double its revenue to $633 million. The net profit of the bank has grown sevenfold to $324.9 million.

A few leaders in the market

There were only two companies that reported positive results in May. One of them is KazTransOil, which reported a 1.65% increase in the value of its stocks to $1.72. The stocks were growing despite a 13.6% decline in revenue of KazTransOil in Q1 to $19.7 million. On May 24, the company’s board of directors supported the idea of paying $33.5 million as dividend payouts.

Kcell, a mobile operator, reported a 1.4% increase in its stocks to $4.25. On May 17, the company closed its deal with the government on acquiring 5G frequencies in a diapason from 3,700 to 3,800 MHz. On May 22, the company announced it would not pay dividend payouts for 2022.