Movers & Shakers: April 05, 2013

Botswana: DCI +0.10%, USD 103k

Letshego (48% of activity) and Letlole accounted for the majority of activity today with value traded amounting to USD 103k. A number of other names traded but there was nothning of significance to write home about.

Egypt: Closed for the day.

Kenya: NSE 20 +0.20%, USD 6.4m

The equities market ended broadly flat after weakening earlier in the session before buying interest developed later in the day. Equity turnover climbed 27.1% driven by improved activity on EABL. The brewer was the leading mover accounting 48.3% of total volumes on the back of block trades. Locals were selling while foreign institutions were active buyers. Overall, foreign investors accounted for 38.6% of trades compared to 56% in the previous session. The leading gainers and losers were generally on thin volumes. NIC Bank issued results at the close of trading. Net profits climbed 31.8% while EPS, diluted for rights issue, notched 8.8% higher. As the market is up 20.9% since the year began, liquidity and macro conditions have remained conducive for a further gain despite valuations starting to look stretched on some counters. We see liquidity tightening with plans by the government to raise KES 25bn in 5 and 15 year bonds to be issued later in the month, which should suck some of the liquidity chasing stocks.

Mauritius: Semdex -0.14%, USD 605k

Quiet day to end the week with value traded amounting to a rather dissapointing USD 605k. SBM drove activity today thanks to a cross of 5.1m shares at Rs1.03 while MCB was extremely quiet and closed the day flat at Rs190.75. There was a decent amount of activity in Terra with a total of 74k shares changing hands.

Nigeria: ASI -0.11%, USD 26.23m

Banking stocks fell under sword today with Top-tier banks leading the way lower as the Bank 10 Index fell 1.27%. Zenith Bank (-3.67%) and Fidelity (-3.46%) lead the market lower as investors looked to lock in some good profit after a few few solid days of rallying. On the consumer front Nigerian Breweries managed to bounce back nicely today and close up 1.57% on decent volume thanks to a few large crosses. There was also a decent amount of activity in Nestle thanks to two decent crosses in the name. From an activity point of view Guaranty Trust Bank lead the way while Okume Oil was surprisingly active.

South Africa: Top 40 -1.58%, USD 2.05bn

The JSE ended the day lower with the Top 40 Index falling 1.58% to close at 33,920 while value traded amounted to USD 2.05bn. Industrials were the day's biggest losers with the Index falling 2.09% followed by Financials and Resources which fell 1.26% and 0.74% respectively. The Rand was trading at 9.09 and 11.82 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE -0.13%, USD 6.6k

No surprise to see such muted activity in Lusaka today with value traded amounting to a paltry USD 6.6k. There was a tiny amount of activity in ZNCO with value traded in the name amounting to USD 5.1k.

Zimbabwe: Industrials +0.01%, Mining -1.21%, USD 1.24m

The equities market posted marginal gains with the industrials yielding 0.01% to close call at 185.19pts in an improved trading session where turnover surged 134% higher ahead of yesterday to settle at $1.24m. This was on the back of improved foreign demand of $1.05m worth 84% of total value traded. Meanwhile the mining index shed 1.21% to close the call at 65.99pts on lower bids in BNC and Hwange after some dismal financial results for the year to December 2012.

African Currencies