A review of the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) from 1 January to 30 September 2025 shows that out of 33 listed companies, 19 saw their share prices rise, 11 stayed the same, and 3 went down. This list includes BBS on the Serala OTC Board and GAIA Renewables on the Investment Entities Board.
Leading the gains was BBS Bank, whose share price jumped 40%, followed by Choppies with a 34.6% increase and Standard Chartered Bank, up 24.1%.
Most traded
During the same period, the three most actively traded companies were FNB Botswana (P912.2 million), Sefalana (P591.5 million), and CA Sales (P436.8 million). Together, they made up 36.4% of all shares traded on the BSE, with FNB Botswana alone accounting for 17.1% of the total turnover. By comparison, in the same period of 2024, the top three traded companies made up a bigger share of activity—42.8% of total equity turnover—with Sechaba leading the pack, accounting for 19% (P193.0 million) of all shares traded.
BSE said the performance of listed equities reflected a generally positive trajectory, despite pockets of volatility in select counters.
Who is buying?
Trading on the BSE was mostly driven by local institutions, such as pension funds through asset managers, which made up 92.6% of all market activity, showing how dominant these players remain. Local individual investors contributed P357.3 million, or 6.7% of total turnover, showing that while retail investors are active, their role is still small.
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Foreign investors accounted for just 0.7% of activity, split between 0.4% from individuals and 0.3% from companies.
“This distribution highlights the concentration of market activity among domestic institutions, with both retail and foreign investor participation remaining modest,”
the BSE noted.
Stronger interest in ETFs
Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw a strong performance in 2025. Total turnover jumped 46.3% to P446.3 million, up from P305.0 million in 2024. The number of units traded also rose 20%, from 1.31 million to 1.58 million, showing growing interest from investors in the ETF market.
NewGold ETF continued to lead the market, accounting for 72.8% of all ETF trading (P324.9 million), up from P240.6 million in 2024, and its price surged 51.4%, compared with a 31.1% gain the previous year.
NewPlat ETF also saw strong growth, with turnover nearly doubling to P120.7 million from P64.4 million, while its price jumped 56.7%, a big increase from just 5.8% in 2024.
On the other hand, the NewPall ETF saw very little trading—just P0.2 million—and its price fell sharply by 40.7%, showing low investor interest in palladium. The African Development Bank Fund (ADBF) ETF recorded turnover of P0.5 million, up from a tiny P0.002 million in 2024, and its price rose 4.6%.
Overall, the ETF market showed wider participation and stronger price gains, mainly driven by precious metal ETFs. NewGold and NewPlat alone made up more than 98% of total ETF turnover in 2025, the BSE reported.
