African Thoughts: March 07, 2016

Nigeria:

The ASI gained a spectacular 6.57% last week as a rebound in the banks (+5.45%) drove the index northwards. However, please note that trading was extremely thin and the index remains in the red (-9.85%) for the year thus far. Another positive driver of the index was heavyweight Dangcem which rise by 25.37% to N168.00 after releasing 2015 FY results. Banks were driven higher by ETI (N18.25, +14.35%), Diamond Bank (N1.53, +12.50%), Zenith Bank (N12.17, +9.74%) and UBA (N3.11, +6.87%) while the Consumers fell on the back of NB (N98.00, -3.70%), and Unilever (N27.50, -5.17%). Other notable gainers for the week included PZ (N24.10, +10.05%), Oando (N3.49, +9.06%) and Dangote Sugar (N5.91, +7.45%).

Kenya:

The market closed higher for the third week in a row on the back of foreign interest with the NSE 20 Index gaining +2.8%. Safcom had a very strong week both in terms of performance and activity thanks to foreign interest as the telco gained +5.6% and touched a 10-month high of KES 17.25 on foreign inflows of $2.7m. EQBNK was amongst the top performers and closed the week +9.6% higher ahead of FY 2015 results due out tomorrow. Market heavyweights KNCB and EABL were also very strong as the counters gained +4.4% and +3.4% respectively. Barclays Kenya was amongst the worst performers after parent company Barclays Plc has decided to sell down its stake in its African unit. Activity increased +70% as turnover amounted to $25.7m as foreigners dominated proceedings (67.4% of activity) and were net buyers for the first time in three weeks to the tune of $1.8m. Inflation for February dropped to its lowest level in four months and came in at 6.84%.

Zimbabwe:

The Industrials fell by a further 60bps last week thereby extending the YTD losses to 13.97%. once again volumes remain light and foreigners remain skewed to the sell side. In terms of results we saw Barclays Bank release 2015 results which showed a 41% decrease in the bottom line. There were losses in the likes of CBZ (-9.1%, 10c), Simbisa (-6.36%, 13.11c), Barclays Bank (-5.88%, 3.2c), Innscor (-2.17%, 18c), Natfoods (-3.92%, $2.45), Seedco (-2.74%, 80c) and BAT (-3.83%, $11.00). On the positive side we saw some demand for Delta (+3.76%, 55.25c) and Econet (+4bps, 23.01c).

Mauritius:

It was a decent enough week from a performance point of view in Port Louis as the market managed to bounce with the Semdex gaining +0.8%, which managed to put the market in positive territory for the year with the Semdex up +0.5%. The two major banking stocks were the drivers behind the positive movement thanks to foreign purchases as MCBG gained +2.4% while SBMH gained +1.5%. Hoteliers ended the week mixed with NMH gaining +5.2% while LUX and Sun fell -1.7% and -0.9% respectively. It was an average week from an activity point of view with turnover amounting to $6m as MCBG and SBMH accounted for 59.2% of activity. Foreign investors were net buyers to the tune of $450k.