African Thoughts: April 18, 2016

Nigeria:

It was another dreadful week in terms of activity in Lagos, even though turnover increased +18% to $36.63m as foreign investors seem all but absent from the market. What made it even worse was the fact that there were a few crosses on Friday that boosted activity somewhat, which otherwise would have made it an absolute disaster. The market closed the week lower with the ASI falling -2.40% thanks to consumer stocks as the sector fell -3.37% with large losses in the likes of PZ Cussons (-9.70%), Nestle (-5.18%) and NB (-3.55%). Banking stocks managed to close the week slightly higher with the sector gaining +0.31% with some strength in GTB (+7.48%) and Zenith (+4.47%). The National Bureau of Statistics released inflation figures for March which saw an increase from 11.4% in February to 12.8% (the highest in almost four years).

Kenya:

The market closed lower for the third straight week in Nairobi as the NSE 20 Index fell -2%, taking the YTD loss to -3%, as foreign investors turned net sellers for the first time in two weeks while their participation fell to 66.7%. Weakness in the likes of EABL (-3.6%) and EQBNK (-1.2%) drove the market lower. It was also an extremely dull week from an activity point of view as turnover fell -18.7% to $19.9m. The two major banking stocks KNCB and EQBNK dominated proceedings and together accounted for 76.5% of activity. EABL recorded the highest net foreign outflows ($292k) while Safcom gained +2.1% and recorded the highest net foreign inflows ($312K) and also closed at a 2016 high of KES 17.10.

Zimbabwe:

It was another dire week in terms of activity in Harare as turnover fell -6.79% to $2.95m with crosses in NatFoods driving proceedings as the name accounted for 36% of activity while heavyweights Econet and Delta were very quiet. A slight positive (we'll take whatever we can get at this point) was that the Industrial index gained for the third straight week and closed +0.44% higher, trimming the YTD loss to -14.37%. There were good performances in DZL (+9.41%), OK Zim (+3.08%), Innscor (+2.30%) and Delta (+1.47%).

Mauritius:

The market closed the week slightly lower with the Semdex falling -0.4%, taking the YTD loss to -1.4%. On the face of it, it seems as though it was a rather active week in Port Louis. This should however be taken with a pinch of salt as a large foreign cross of 1.5m Bayport Management at helped drive proceedings with the name accounting for 61.9% of activity over the week, with total market turnover amounting to $10.7m. The two major banking stocks ended the week mixed with MCBG gaining +0.1% while SBMH closed the week unchanged. Hoteliers came under some pressure with NMH falling -2.3% while LUX fell -0.9%.