Movers & Shakers: April 08, 2013

Botswana: DCI +0.06%, USD 56k

A number of counters actually traded today but when the total turnover is merely $56k then you know that you cannot extrapolate on it. A very dull day as the market inched up.

Egypt: EGX +1.59%, USD 47m

Finally the market witnessed a breath of air to end the day in the greens, leaving the EGX30 to end the day up 1.59% to close at 5,112.76. Market volumes remains very weak yet with a slight improvement to recent turnovers, the market traded a total turnover of USD 47m. The market managed to rally today regaining some last week losses this was mainly lead by notable buying from local and GCC institutions, this is mainly attributed to the attractive prices the stocks have reached after the notable selling witnessed last week, adding to this a government spokesmen (president's advisor, and head of economic committee in MB) stated that the government will not impose a capital gain tax and that government will refund back the taxes collected from the NSGB/QNB deal, it’s worth mentioning that international institutions and local retail investors remain as net sellers in the market. Names such as COMI, ORTE and PHDC managed to grab investors’ appetite to end the day up 3.28%, 2.25% and 1.58% receptively, yet ESRS was one of the few names to trade against the market sentiment to end the day down 0.43% on above average volumes.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Sellers by 4.59 mn EGP and were 36.13% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Sellers by 6.42 mn EGP and were 58.01% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Buyers by 11.02 mn EGP and were 5.86% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Buyers by 22.01 mn EGP and were 50.31% of the market.
•  Retail were net Sellers by 22.01 mn EGP and were 49.68% of the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.10%, USD 2.5m

The equities market started the week on a low note, with some mild selling featuring towards the end of the trading session. Equity turnover was low, falling 60.8% ahead of tomorrow’s public holiday which marks the swearing-in ceremony of Kenya’s fourth president, Uhuru Kenyatta (the market will be closed). Foreign investors’ participation fell to 18.4% of trades compared to 38.6% in the previous session. Most foreign trades were buying into Britam, Kenya Power and Safaricom. KenolKobil fell 1.4% to 10.45 during the day. The oil marketer released disappointing results at the close of trading for FY12, swing to a net loss of KES 6.3bn. The company has put up for sale some noncore assets with a view to improving cashflows. TPSEA Serena also released FY12 results with a 19.9% fall in net profits to KES 494m. The hotel chain posted satisfactory performance in the Kenyan corporate and domestic sector but the foreign leisure segment and the Zanzibar performed poorly. Mainland Tanzania performance was satisfactory.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.19%, USD 337k

A much quieter day than usual in Port Louis. The only Sem-7 stocks that moved were SBM (+97bps, Rs1.04) and Alteo limited (+27bps, Rs36.50). Overall though the day was incredibly quiet.

Nigeria: ASI +1.54%, USD 32.44m

Another active day in Nigeria as some crosses once again livened up the day. Banks, as always, the main focus of activity accounting for the bulk of the session although the sector fell by 77bps. ETI, FBNH and Zenith were the only banking names to close in the positive while Access (-5.62%, N9.91) was the sector’s biggest loser. Some decent action in the consumers with the following names all seeing good flow: NB (+2.16%, N164.99), Unilever (-2.62%, N52.10), Dangsuga (unch, N8.95) and Nestle (+99bps, N970). Dangote Cement gained 5.77% to N165 on good volume. There were a couple of large crosses in IHS today as a total of 166m shares traded in the name with the buyers being foreign while the sellers were local.

South Africa: Top 40 +0.19%, USD 1.44bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 0.19% to close at 33,984 while value traded amounted to USD 1.44bn. Industrials were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 0.95% followed by Financials which gained 0.44% while Resources fell 1.06%. The Rand was trading at 9.02 and 11.74 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE -0.33%, USD 618k

Slow start to the week in Lusaka with value taded amounting to USD 18k. The names that traded included AELZ, CEC, PUMA, ZSUG and ZNCO. CEC was the biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 11k. PUMA was the second biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 2k.

Zimbabwe: Industrials +0.53%, Mining +1.24%, USD 1.06m

The ZSE mainstream industrial index sustained its positive showing despite marginal gains, by reaching a two week high of 186.1pts which is 0.53% ahead of the previous close assisted by a 1.04% recovery in Delta to 116.7c. The mining index not to be out manouvered, posting a 1.24% gain to 66.81pts on 4.67% gains in Rio Zim which settled at 47.1c by close of call today. Total value traded softened 14.2% to $1.06m on waning foreign demand down 18.1% to $0.86m as investors take caution of pending elections while also the market rerates after accumulating sizeable gains in the first quarter of the year. However total volume traded inversely progressed in relation to value traded by 94.8% propelled by a strong demand in CBZ which closed at 13.2c an equivalent gain of 1.54%.

African Currencies