African Thoughts: August 05, 2013

The global risk switched remained on last week with developed markets putting in rather solid performances, albeit on thin volumes as a result of the northern hemisphere summer period. African markets enjoyed mixed performances last week and as per usual we take a look at some of the best and worst performances from across the continent.

Nigeria:

The Nigerian market closed the week firmly in the black with the ASI gaining a stellar 3.44%. Banks were the main drivers behind the move higher with the Bank 10 Index gaining an impressive 4.60% thanks to the likes of Stanbic (+17.75%) and UBA (+16.36%). Banks were also the most active sector and accounted for 73% of volumes last week. Consumers were also very strong with the Consumer Goods Index closing higher by 3.89%. There was a host of companies that released H1 2013 results last week with Diamond Bank, GlaxoSmithKline and Ashaka Cement amongst them. It was interesting to note that a number of large blocks went through in Ashaka on Wednesday through to Friday after the company released numbers.

Zimbabwe:

Last week we finally saw the much anticipated general elections take place in Zimbabwe with Zanu-PF taking a very controversial win. The market did however manage to close in positive territory with the Industrial Index gaining 0.27% while the Mining Index gained 1.19% on rather thin volume. Delta was the most active counter on the market and accounted for 26% of turnover while CBZ and OK were also quite active. All indications that we have seen thus far today is that the market is expected to come under significant pressure with the likes of Delta down a massive 20% (at the time of writing). It will be very interesting to see what stance the global investment community takes with regards to positions in Zimbabwe now after these controversial results.

Egypt:

The Egyptian market managed to end the week slightly higher after trading in the red at the start of the week, leaving the EGX30 to end up 0.42% to close at 5,375.66 points, the market traded weaker volumes relative to recent average turnovers. The week started With pro-Mursi supporters planning a massive protest and marches across Egypt increasing fears of further deadly clashes with civilians and security forces, yet the marches passed relatively peacefully followed by the positive news in-anticipation of the cash re-injection from OCI's deal proceeds which was seen in the heavyweights COMI and ETEL. The real-estate sector managed to re-gain interest at week end after witnessing pressure all week, names such as OCDI, PHDC and TMGH managed to regain some of its earlier losses.

Mauritius:

The Mauritian market managed to close the week on the front with the Semdex gaining 0.27% to close at 1,870.95 while value traded also increased to $3.94m for the week (still nothing to write home about unfortunately). Banking stocks finished the week mixed with MCB gaining 1.6% to close at 190 while SBM closed the week unchanged at 1.02. MCB received an indirect vote of confidence from its Repo +135bps 10yr subordinated notes oversubscription to the tune of Rs1.85bn.

Kenya:

The Kenyan market came under a bit of pressure last week with the NSE 20 index falling 0.5% while turnover increased 37% for the week to $29.98m thanks to an increase in foreign participation. Foreign investor participation jumped to an eight week high of $9.01m with very strong participation in EABL on Friday after the brewer issued a profit warning earlier in the week. Equity Bank released H1 2013 results which saw profit increase 16.7%. The market however seemed surprised with the results with the counter falling 1.5% on the week. Safcom managed to reverse the prior week’s losses with the Telco giant gaining 1.4% to close at 7.25. EA Cables also witnessed some selling pressure after releasing H1 2013 results with the name falling 3.6% for the week.