Movers & Shakers: April 16, 2013

Botswana: DCI +0.12%, USD 136k

A quiet day in Gaborone with nothing much of note taking place while the DCI ticked up marginally. The normally active name Letshego did not trade at all while only a tiny scrap went through in Choppies. Most of the day’s action belonged to ABCH and BIHL.

Egypt: EGX 30 +0.38%, USD 50m

The EGX30 index managed to pick up some buying momentum from mainly local and Arab institutions to close today's session at 5,295.11 up 0.38%. Volumes continues to slightly improve on a total turnover of USD 50m. The main trigger for today's slight rebound was the increased interest in HRHO and ORTE for the potential deals after PM Qandil promised to conclude HRHO-QInvest transaction before end of the week while ORTE benefited from the Baskindale tender offer for 100% of OTH shares at USD0.70 (EGP4.82/share) which is offering a very low premium. However, the interest is on speculation that the deal will be turned down by minorities and counter bid at a higher price. HRHO and ORTE were almost the only blue-chips that managed to buck the general trend yet adding support to the index as they ended they day up 5.09% and 2.20% respectively. It's worth mentioning that HRHO came off it's highs after a clarification letter was sent by the company to the EGX stating that even if the regulator approved the deal, it might be tight to execute the transaction given the limited time till the expiry of the deal.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Sellers by 35.57 mn EGP and were 17.69% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Buyers by 27.84 mn EGP and were 73.51% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Buyers by 7.73 mn EGP and were 8.80% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Buyers by 11.54 mn EGP and were 33.18% of the market.
•  Retail were net Sellers by 11.54 mn EGP and were 66.81% of the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.95%, USD 6.2m

The market continued to witness profit taking with the NSE 20 index slipping further 0.95% to 4,947.5 points. Equity turnover jumped 114% driven by increased local investor activity, accounting for 76% of trades today. KCB was the day’s top mover accounting for 21% of volumes, with local investors providing supply and foreign investors taking up most of the supply. Of the top mover’s, foreign investors actively traded in Safaricom and EABL accounting for 90% of demand on the counters. Kenya Re climbed 4.9% on strong local investor demand, touching a new 12 month high of KES 18.45. Total Kenya maintained its upward momentum, edging up further 1.8% to KES 17. On the losing end, E.A Portland Cement eased 6.1% to KES 53.50. Nation Media continued to witness selling pressure slipping further 7.1% to KES 314, following book closure for its dividend and bonus last week Friday.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.12%, USD 1.98m

The Semdex and Sem-7 both inched up slightly again today. Fallers in the Sem-7 were MCB (-53bps, Rs187) and ENL Land (-21bps, Rs47.80). Gainers included SBM (+97bps, Rs1.04), Terra (+2%, Rs40.80) and Bramer Banking (+27bps, Rs7.32).

Nigeria: ASI -0.59%, USD 22.46m

A rather quiet session in Lagos as turnover dropped substantially from the previous sessions. The index was also softer with the ASI down 59bps. Banks (-90bps) were slightly soft although nothing much to note in the sector except another strong day for UBA (+6.06%, N7.70). Skye Bank released FY 2012 results which saw PAT at N12.6bn. Please note that Access Bank will trade ex-div (60kobo) tomorrow and will thus only trade at N8.61 tomorrow. Consumer names were very quiet today and performance was also non-committal either good or bad. Outliers were Cadbury (-4.32%, N33.01) and UACN (+3.65%, N57.01).

South Africa: Top 40 +1.18%, USD 1.60bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 1.18% to close at 33,861 while value traded amounted to USD 1.60bn. Resources were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 1.63% followed by Financials and Industrials which gained 1.22% and 0.83% respectively. The Rand was trading at 9.14 and 12.01 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE +0.89%, USD 408k

The recet run of good volumes continued again today with value traded amounting to USD 408k thanks to crosses in BATA and AELZ. The names that traded included AELZ, BATA, BAT, CEC, PUMA, SCZ, ZSUG and ZNCO. BATA was the biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 184k. AELZ was the second biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 136k.

Zimbabwe: Industrials -0.21%, Mining +0.43%, USD 1.57m

The ZSE mainstream industrial index ended lower, falling 0.21% to 188.03pts dragged by losses in heavy caps Econet and Innscor, paring 1.5% and 0.23% to settle at 65c and 86c respectively. The mining index however advanced 43bpts to close at 66.03pts on a 0.5c recovery in Hwange to 12.8c. The value of trades was almost indifferent from yesterday at $1.57m having shed a marginal 1.13%. Foreign disposals were however slightly less than yesterday down -13.7% at $1.2m. Delta remained stable at 125c after publishing its full year trading update to March 2013 where beverages volumes were flat. The decline in sorghum beer volumes offset volumes growth in lager beer, sparkling beverages and maheu.

African Currencies