African Thoughts: October 20, 2014


Nigeria:

The NSE ASI had a torrid week last week as it shed 5.55% with both the banking (-7.61%) and consumers (-5.79%) sectors taking big hits. The Ebola story has certainly hurt sentiment across the bourse although later in the week some buying activity did return, particularly in the Tier 1 banks. The Banks were not helped by the London Mining story which triggered the fall in the sector, particularly in FBNH. The biggest banking losers for the week included Access Bank (-5.36%, N8.30), UBA (-16.69%, N5.29), FBNH (-8.60%, N11.80) and GTB (-10.04%, N26.60). Consumers were led lower by the likes of NB (-8.08%, N165.45), Nestle (-6.67%, N980.00) and Guinness (-4.26%, N180.00). In economic news the CPI data out showed an easing from 8.5% in August to 8.3% in September.

Kenya:

The NSE 10 closed the week down just 1bp although YTD the index is still a pleasing +7.2%. However, market activity was much reduced with foreign investors still largely quiet and still largely skewed on the sell side. The most active stock for the week was EABL which saw a couple of chunky crosses throughout the week. The brewer ended the week at KES 273 (-40bps). BATK also saw some chunky crosses with some legitimate foreign sellers appearing. The banks had a mixed week which saw KNCB fall by 3.4% to KES 57.00 while Equity Bank gained by 2.5% to KES 50.50. Safcom had a rough week as the telco lost 5.1% to KES 12.15.

Zimbabwe:

The Harare bourse was rather dire last week in terms of market activity with nothing much taking place. The Industrials index dripped slightly lower (-20bps) and is now down 6.6% YTD. Foreign investors remain largely absent. Among the market heavyweights we saw Econet close at 77.9c (-13bps) while Old Mutual lost a chunky 7.14% to 260c). Countering this was an unchanged week for Delta (125c) while Innscor closed higher at 69c (+6.15%).

Mauritius:

The Semdex fell by 1.1% last week while the Sem-10 dropped by 1.3% in a week which saw some decent volumes going through at times. The banks had a rough week and dragged the market lower. MCBG closed down 70bps at Rs211.00 while SBMH ended the week at Rs1.03 (-1.9%) and Bramer Banking at Rs6.60 (-1.5%). The hotel sector had a mixed week with a gain in Sun Resorts (+1%, Rs45.45) offset by drops in NMH (-60bps, Rs87.50) and Lux (-90bps, Rs55.50).

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