African Thoughts: March 04, 2013

Good morning, as usual we pen down some of our thoughts on the African markets in general. All focus this week is the Kenya elections – the Nairobi Stock Exchange is closed on Monday and Tuesday and we are keeping a close eye on proceedings. Global markets were non-committal last week and African markets were much the same. Below is a summary of some of the more notable markets.

Zimbabwe:

The Mining index in Zim got another big smack as it closed the week down 14.93% while it is still up 5.11% for the year. The main driver behind this was the government’s first reported repossession of mining claims from platinum miner Zimplats since the announcement that non-utilized claims will be repossessed and offered to other players. The industrial index also fell by a more modest 99bps but is still an impressive +21.23% YTD. Results out from CBZ and BAT were both good yet political noise overshadowed these. Some important news out was the approval of the Econet share split (10 for 1) and the name started trading in the new splits on Fri 1 March as the name closed up 1.69% at $0.722.

Nigeria:

Profit taking on a number of counters was the name of the game in Lagos last week as the ASI fell by 2.1%. Consumers and insurance were hardest hit yet the banking sector actually closed in the green. The NSE is still a very impressive +17.3% YTD. Profit taking on the larger consumers were very evident and we saw NB (-2.71%, N161.50), Nestle (-45bps, N886), Cadbury (-4.18%, N35.50) and Flourmills (-1.13%, N76.13) all drop. Dangote Cement also had a tough week as it lost 7.51% to N147.99.

Kenya:

The big focus this week is the elections, however last week was all about results as a number of company’s released earnings. Foreign investment remained strong for the week (and indeed, 2012 Q4 showed the highest level of foreign participation at 50% while foreign holdings rose to their highest level of 40.02% in Q4). Among the large caps the most notable movers were EABL (+1.8%, KES 285) and Safcom (+1.8%, KES 5.80). Performance was mixed in the banking sector as Equity Bank rallied by 5.6% (KES 28.25) while KNCB fell by 1.4% to KES 36.

Mauritius:

Both the Mauritian Semdex and the Sem-7 recorded modest gains for the past week. MCB touched a week low of Rs183 before closing at Rs184.75. SBM, in the week before its share split witnessed some profit taking to close at Rs101. Hotels were mixed, NMH gained 1.4% to Rs72 while Sun Resorts gained 1.4% for the week to Rs29.50 despite announcing a drop in FY2012 earnings. Lux Island Resorts fell by 3.9% to close at Rs17.10.

Francophone Region:

The BRVM market had another good week as both BRVM indices are now up 16.72% (Comp) and 18.94% (BRVM10) respectively. Packaging gained 11.74%. In the telecoms sector we saw Onatel rise 3.53% (albeit on thin volumes) which spurred the sector to a 1.73% gain.

Botswana:

The DCI continues its strong run as it closed the week up more than 1% as both Sefalana and Choppies reached new 12 month highs, closing up 4% and 6% at 390t and 244t respectively. Conversely, the FCI fell 37bps.

Tanzania:

Bulls won the week in Dar-Es-Salaam as both indices increased. Banks led the charge with the sector closing up 4.64% as CRDB and NMB gained 1.69% and 10.71% respectively.