Movers & Shakers: April 07, 2014

Botswana: DCI +0.05%, USD 29k

It was an extremely slow start to the week in Gaborone as value traded amounted to USD 29k with not much to talk about unfortunately.

Egypt: EGX 30 +0.08%, USD 98m

The market managed to end the day slightly higher in last couple of minutes of trading after trading the entire day in the reds. The EGX30 ended the day up 0.08% to close at 7,530.11 points. Market volumes were significantly low relative to recent average turnovers, as the market traded a total turnover of USD 98m. The market started the day with negative sentiment lead by notable selling pressure from local investors pushing the EGX30 to a low of 7,530.23 points. COMI, ESRS, and PHDC came under notable pressure leaving each to end the day down 1.60%, 1.23% and 1.73% respectively. Around mid-session local institutions stepped in the market aggressively as net-buyers. The entire market witnessed decent a rebound yet VWAP were already hammered from the session's start. ETEL managed to gain interest to above average volumes after the company announced it would pay for the virtual mobile license with it's own cash, ending the day up 1.88% to EGP15.19.

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.79%, USD 7.4m

It was a solid start to the week from an activity point of view in Nairobi as value traded amounted to $7.4m as foreigners accounted for 70.8% of turnover. There were a few crosses in Safcom as a total of 18.9m shares changed hands in the telco with the counter gaining +0.4% to close at KES 12.45. EABL came under a bit of pressure as the brewer fell -1.9% with foreigners dominating activity on both sides. Foreign purchases drove activity in KNCB while foreigners were net sellers in EQBNK. The market was upbeat about the delivery of the first of 9 B-787 Dreamliners to Kenya Airways as the airliner gained +0.8%.

Mauritius: Semdex -0.06%, USD 532k

Not much on the go in Port Louis today as value traded amounted to USD 532k. There was a small bit of activity in MCBG (38k shares) while 1.8m SBM traded on the day.

Nigeria: ASI -0.22%, USD 37.93m

It was a very active day in Lagos with a number of crosses in the heavyweights as value traded amounted to $37.93m. The most active counters on the day came in the form of GTB ($10.18m), Zenith ($8.72m), WAPCO ($3.87m) and NB ($3.58m). There was some profit taking in banking stocks today after the sector had enjoyed a few days of gains with the Index falling 0.80% as Access (-4.81%) and ETI (-2.38%) dragged the sector lower. Consumers (+0.24%) closed the day higher thanks to strong moves higher in Dangote Flour (+1.31%) and NB (+1.29%).

Please note that the index figure above is correct at the time of writing.

Zimbabwe: Industrials +0.01%, Mining unch, USD 621k

Not much on the go in Harare today as value traded amounted to USD 612k with some activity in OK Zim ($150k), Econet ($138k) and Barclays ($105k). Delta was very quiet as only 30k shares traded. The market closed the day slightly higher with the Industrial Index gaining +0.01%.

African Currencies