African Thoughts: May 06, 2013

Developed markets got a real boost from the jobs numbers out in the States last Friday as a fresh round of buying took place. For the most part African markets followed suit and there were some good performances across the continent. We take a look at some of the best and worst performing markets from last week.

Nigeria:

The Nigerian market was the best performing bourse on the continent last week with the ASI gaining 5.88%. Banking stocks completely dominated from an activity point of view and accounted for 84% of total activity. This was largely as a result of big block trades in the sector, especially the cross of 351m UBA at 7.00 on Friday. Banking stocks closed the week in positive territory with the Bank 10 Index gaining 2.68% as First Bank released Q1 2013 results with PAT coming in at N21.44bn while FCMB also released Q1 2013 numbers with PAT of N4.2bn. Consumers also ended the week in the black with the Consumer Goods Index gaining 2.53% as Nestle released Q1 2013 results with PAT of N6bn.

Zimbabwe:

Decent week in Zimbabwe last week albeit on thin volume with the Industrial Index gaining 1.60% while the Mining Index gained 0.13%. The low volume was on the decrease in foreign participation which amounted to $2.48m (purchases), but still managed to account for 64% of activity. Econet once again accounted for the bulk of volume (44.39%) while CBZ was also quite active and accounted for 16.14% of activity. CBZ announced that the company will be embarking on a 68.41m share buyback worth circa $9.2m.

Mauritius:

Very solid week in Mauritius with the Semdex gaining 1.2% to close at 1,923.27. The main driver behind the move higher was MCB as the banking giant gained 4.3% as foreigners dominated purchases in the counter while SBM succumbed to some selling pressure, falling 1% to close at Rs1.02. NMH and Alteo were also rather strong with the counters gaining 1.8% and 1.4% respectively. Things were relatively quiet from an activity point of view as Alteo and MCB accounted for 54% of turnover for the week.

Kenya:

Buying activity returned to the Kenyan market last week with the NSE 20 Index gaining 0.7%. This was largely on the back of an increase of 28% in foreign inflows which amounted to $6.76m. KNCB extended its recent gains and managed to rally 1.2% to close at KES 42. The top picks from a foreign point of view were Safcom and EABL as Safcom gained 6% to reach a five year high of 7.05 ahead of performance figures due out on the 14th of May while EABL gained 7.7% to close at 320. Equity Bank released Q1 2013 results this morning before the open which saw net loans increase 15% y/y. Inflation for the month of April increase slightly to 4.14%.

Ghana:

The Ghanaian market continued to rally last week with the GSE Composite Index gaining 0.74%. CAL Bank was very active and also drove the market in terms of performance with the counter gaining 8.33% after reporting Q1 2013 results which saw profits increase 165%. From an activity point of view Unilever dominated trading thanks to a large cross of 100k shares where both the buyer and seller were foreign. Directors of Ghana Commercial Bank will be recommending a dividend of GHC0.14 at the upcoming AGM.