Moroccan equities ended the trading session lower on Thursday in Casablanca, with sector weakness concentrated in Utilities, Banking and Mining pushing the benchmark down. At the close, the Moroccan All Shares index was off 0.84%.
Among individual movers, the session's top performers included Aradei Capital SA (CSE:ARD), which advanced 4.35%, gaining 17.90 points to finish at 429.00. Disway SA (CSE:DWY) added 4.02%, or 34.00 points, to reach 879.00 at the close, while Micro Data SA (CSE:MIC) rose 2.44%, up 19.00 points to 799.00 in late trade.
The heaviest declines came from Lesieur Cristal (CSE:LES), which slid 7.40%, a drop of 26.85 points to 336.00 at the close. Miniere Touissit (CSE:CMT) fell 5.29%, losing 190.00 points to end the session at 3,400.00, and SMI (CSE:SMI) decreased 4.51%, down 300.00 points to 6,350.00.
Market breadth on the Casablanca Stock Exchange was skewed to the downside: 37 stocks declined versus 14 that advanced, while 7 issues finished unchanged.
Commodities provided context for the trading day. Crude oil for April delivery rose 1.79%, an increase of 1.17 to settle at $66.59 a barrel. Brent oil for May delivery gained 2.24%, climbing 1.58 to $72.27 a barrel. In precious metals, the April Gold Futures contract fell 0.61%, or 31.94, to trade at $5,194.26 a troy ounce.
Currency pairs affecting Moroccan financial conditions moved modestly. EUR/MAD was up 0.07% to 10.82, while USD/MAD was unchanged up 0.04% to 9.17. The US Dollar Index Futures registered a 0.15% rise, trading at 97.77.
The session left a clear pattern: a few stocks posted meaningful gains, but sector-level weakness in utilities, banking and mining dominated the market narrative and drove the overall index lower.