African Thoughts: June 30, 2014


Nigeria:

It was a relatively quiet week from a foreign activity point of view as local investors dominated proceedings as turnover increased 29.26% thanks to a few large crosses over the course of the week. The market had a good week from a performance point of view as the ASI managed to gain +2.57% as consumer stocks (+3.28%) drove the market higher. Good performances from Guinness (+11.11%), Nestle (+4.66%) and Nigerian Breweries (+3.30%) helped drive the consumer sector higher. Banking stocks also had a solid week with the index gaining +1.30% thanks to the likes of Zenith (+5.04%), ETI (+1.56%) and FBNH (+1.36%). The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) decided to delist 20 companies for non-compliance with listing requirements. Nigeria maintained its position as one of the top three destinations for Foreign Direct Investment in Africa, despite current challenges, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) has said.

Kenya:

The market managed to close the week slightly higher with the NSE 20 Index gaining +0.20%, taking the YTD loss to -1.9%. Turnover remained relatively flat from the previous week with value traded amounting to $50.8m with foreign participation accounting for 54.3%. Equity Bank saw the highest net inflows ($4.6m) while Safcom saw the highest net outflows ($3.4m). News reports show that the telecommunications firms are waiting for the new guidelines on infrastructure sharing from the regulator where Safcom's M-Pesa is anticipated to open up to competitors. KenGen (+12.4%, on local investor demand) was one of the week's top gainers as the power generator is set to announce its rights issue this year. There were also good performances from EABL (+4.0%) and Equity Bank (+2.8%) on foreign demand while Safcom (-2.7%) came under some pressure.

Zimbabwe:

The market closed the week lower with the Industrial Index falling -0.17% as heavyweight counters Econet (-9.6%) and Seedco (-1.7%) took a beating towards the end of the week. Foreigners remain largely absent from the market as select (very small) interest has been seen in the likes of Econet, Seedco and Delta. Unfortunately things were extremely quiet from a news perspective last week.

Mauritius :

The market managed to close the week slightly higher in Port Louis with the Semdex gaining +0.4%, bringing the YTD change to -0.9%. Turnover remained rather robust with value traded amounting to $7.0m which was largely geared towards the banking stocks MCBG (-0.9%) and SBM (unchanged) which together accounted for 56% of total turnover. Hotel stocks had a very good week with NMH gaining an impressive +4.8% to close at 88.00 while Sun Resorts (+1.2%) closed at 41.00.

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