African Thoughts: December 14, 2015

Nigeria:

It was another quiet week in Lagos as we approach the end of the year with turnover falling -5.73% to $69.67m. The market came under some pressure with the ASI falling -1.31%, taking the YTD loss to -21.32%. The banking index was hit quite hard with the sector falling -4.26% with big losses in Zenith (-7.79%) and GTB (-5.00%). Consumers (-0.15%) closed slightly lower with Nestle (-1.78%) one of the weaker stocks while there were good gains in the likes of Flour Mills (+7.17%). Unfortunately with the holidays fast approaching we expect markets to remain very quiet for the rest of the year.

Kenya:

The market managed to close the week slightly higher in Nairobi with the NSE 20 Index gaining +0.1%, trimming the YTD loss to -21.9%. Another positive was the increase in activity as turnover increased +26.8% to $34.7m while foreigners were net sellers ($737k) for the seventh consecutive week, but remained the dominant participants in the market and accounted for 78.8% of activity. EABL continued to dominate activity and accounted for 24.5% of turnover, but the brewer also saw the highest net outflows to the tune of $2.1m. Safcom on the other hand had the highest net foreign inflows ($1.09m) as the telco gained +4.5% (two week high). NMG had a rather stellar week and gained +9.8% on foreign demand. As is the case with the rest of our markets, we expect things to start slowing down towards the end of the week.

Zimbabwe:

Another week, another disaster in Harare as the market continues to tumble with the Industrial Index falling -2.99% (-29.90% YTD). As it stands, the market is set for its biggest annual loss since 2009. The bigger stocks continue to take strain with Innscor (-5.26%) and SeedCo (-1.45%) amongst the worst performers. On a slightly positive note, we did see some form of a return of activity as turnover increased 277% to 6.67m with Delta (59%) and Econet (18%) dominating proceedings.

Mauritius:

Not much on the go from an activity point of view in Port Louis as total value traded amounted to a dull $6.4m with most of the action geared towards MCBG and NMH as the names accounted for 65.9% of activity. The market closed the week slightly lower with the Semdex falling -0.3% (-12.7% YTD). The two major banking stocks ended the week mixed with MCBG gaining +1.7% while SBMH fell -1.3%. Hoteliers came under a bit of pressure last week with NMH (-0.6%) and LUX (-0.4%) closing lower.