African Markets H1 2026 Review
African stock exchanges delivered one of the strongest half-years on record. Measured in US dollars, 11 of the 16 African markets with a clean dollar conversion beat the S&P 500's +9.6% return — and 7 beat the MSCI Emerging Markets index. Ghana led the world's major exchanges; Nigeria's rally was amplified by a strengthening naira.
H1 2026 returns in US dollars
Dollar returns are what a foreign investor actually earned: the local index move adjusted for the currency's move against the dollar over the same period. Gold bars are global benchmarks for comparison.
The headlines
🇬🇭 Ghana was the best-performing stock market in Africa — and one of the best in the world. The GSE Composite Index rose 67.9% in cedi terms, from 8,770 to 14,724 points, driven by financial and petroleum stocks. Even after adjusting for the currency, dollar investors earned 62.2% in six months.
🇳🇬 Nigeria's dollar return beat its local return. The NGX All-Share Index climbed 47.4% to close H1 at 229,419.18 — despite a sharp June correction that stripped more than 11 percentage points off the year-to-date figure. Because the naira strengthened roughly 5% against the dollar over the half, a dollar-based investor earned 55.7% — a reversal of the currency drag that punished foreign investors in 2023–2024.
🇿🇲 Zambia is the half-year's strangest chart. The LuSE All-Share Index was essentially flat in kwacha (−0.5%), but the currency appreciated so sharply that dollar investors still earned ~23% — more than double the S&P 500, from a market that went nowhere.
North Africa split in two. Tunisia's TUNINDEX surged 47.7% to repeated all-time highs and Egypt's EGX 30 added 20.7%, while Morocco's MASI slipped 3.3% — a pullback after its standout 2025, when the index gained roughly 28%.
The laggards were the continent's most developed and most frontier markets at once. South Africa's JSE All-Share fell 4.8% in rand terms, and Malawi was H1's weakest performer at −12.4%, hit by a capital-gains-tax change and broad losses across its listed banks.
Full table: all 17 markets
| # | Market | Index | 31 Dec 2025 | 30 Jun 2026 | Local % | USD % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇬🇭 Ghana | GSE Composite Index | 8,770.25 | 14,724.26 | +67.9% | +62.2% |
| 2 | 🇳🇬 Nigeria | NGX All-Share Index | 155,613.03 | 229,419.18 | +47.4% | +55.7% |
| 3 | 🇿🇼 Zimbabwe | ZSE All-Share Index | 277.86 | 417.81 | +50.4% | n/a |
| 4 | 🇹🇳 Tunisia | TUNINDEX | 13,449.95 | 19,863.75 | +47.7% | +47.5% |
| 5 | 🇷🇼 Rwanda | RSE All-Share Index | 182.26 | 255.05 | +39.9% | +39.7% |
| 6 | 🇹🇿 Tanzania | DSE All-Share Index | 2,761.93 | 4,048.80 | +46.6% | +37.5% |
| 7 | 🌍 West Africa (WAEMU) | BRVM Composite Index | 345.75 | 453.21 | +31.1% | +30.2% |
| 8 | 🇺🇬 Uganda | USE All-Share Index | 1,631.80 | 2,063.98 | +26.5% | +25.2% |
| 9 | 🇿🇲 Zambia | LuSE All-Share Index | 25,919.83 | 25,784.88 | -0.5% | +22.9% |
| 10 | 🇰🇪 Kenya | NSE All-Share Index (NASI) | 186.58 | 224.15 | +20.1% | +19.7% |
| 11 | 🇪🇬 Egypt | EGX 30 | 41,828.97 | 50,487.96 | +20.7% | +17.2% |
| 12 | 🇳🇦 Namibia | NSX Overall Index | 2,141.33 | 2,312.29 | +8.0% | +13.0% |
| 13 | 🇧🇼 Botswana | BSE Domestic Company Index | 11,030.03 | 11,157.56 | +1.2% | -1.7% |
| 14 | 🇲🇦 Morocco | MASI | 18,846.35 | 18,217.27 | -3.3% | -3.0% |
| 15 | 🇿🇦 South Africa | JSE All-Share Index | 115,832.30 | 110,313.85 | -4.8% | -3.5% |
| 16 | 🇲🇺 Mauritius | SEM-ASI (All-Share) | 2,118.85 | 2,031.69 | -4.1% | -7.0% |
| 17 | 🇲🇼 Malawi | MSE All-Share Index | 598,062.80 | 524,002.31 | -12.4% | -13.0% |
🇳🇬 Nigeria: The naira strengthened ~5% against the dollar over H1, so Nigeria's dollar return exceeds its local-currency return.
🇿🇼 Zimbabwe: Reported in ZiG (ZWG). A clean, continuously-quoted USD rate for the full period is not available, so no USD return is shown.
🌍 West Africa (WAEMU): The BRVM serves eight West African countries sharing the CFA franc: Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo.
🇿🇲 Zambia: Nearly flat in kwacha, but the currency appreciated sharply against the dollar over H1 — turning a local-currency wash into a ~23% gain for dollar investors.
🇲🇦 Morocco: Pulling back after a standout 2025 in which the MASI gained roughly 28%.
🇲🇼 Malawi: H1's weakest performer, hit by a tax change and heavy bank-stock losses.