Movers & Shakers: April 24, 2013

Botswana: DCI -0.05%, USD 941k

A very active day in Gaborone, certainly by BSE standards with trading across myriad names. Turnstar was the most active, accounting for more than 50% of the day’s turnover as the name closed at 149t. Letshego was also active and closed at 258t.

Egypt: EGX 30 -0.22%, USD 34m

The market continued with its bearish sentiment lead by notable selling from international and GCC institutions, leaving the EGX30 to end the day down 0.22% to close at 5,225.24 points. Market volumes remains extremely weak, the market traded a total turnover of USD 34m. With the lack of catalyst in the market along the with the expected cabinet reshuffle and the resignation of minster of Justice which remains overhang on the market, the market witnessed notable selling lead mainly from international institutions targeting names such as HRHO, OTMT, and TMGH, each ending the day down 2.24%, 2.00% and 1.23% respectively, yet local investors (institutional and retail) managed to absorb some of the selling to end the day as strong buyers benefiting from the various price hits targeting names such as COMI, OCDI and ORTE each ending the day up 0.16%, 0.60% and 0.43% respectively.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Sellers by 37.55 mn EGP and were 19.70% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Buyers by 50.42 mn EGP and were 71.79% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Sellers by 12.86 mn EGP and were 8.51% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Sellers by 14.51 mn EGP and were 33.75% of the market.
•  Retail were net Buyers by 14.51 mn EGP and were 66.24% of the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.29%, USD 7.5m

Equity turnover jumped 118.4%, with foreign investors accounting 60% of trades compared to 51% in the previous session. The NSE 20 index continued to weaken easing 0.29% to 4,810.4 points today. KCB was the day’s top mover accounting for 19% of trades buoyed by strong foreign investor demand. The counter climbed 2.5% to KES 41.75, recouping previous session losses. TPS Serena was also fairly actively traded today, with foreign investors accounting for 100% of demand. The counter edged up 2.9% to close at KES 54. After posting strong FY12 performance figures, Kenya Re gained 1.7% to KES 17.95. On the losing end KenolKobil witnessed high local investor selling falling 7.6% to a new 12 month low of KES 9.10. Centum continued to witness profit taking easing 3.5% to KES 20.50.

Mauritius: Semdex -0.15%, USD 444k

The Mauritian market continues to be sluggish as participants happy to not participate. The Sem-7 fell by 25bps as only 2 stocks moved, and both of these went south. SBM fell 96bps ro Rs1.03 while Bramer Banking fell 27bps to Rs7.38.

Nigeria: ASI +1.05%, USD 28.85m

Nigeria followed the same theme today; quiet activity punctuated by chunky crosses. A large cross in Guinness early on was the highest value activity on the day, more than $5m changing hands in the name as the stock eventually closed down 1bp at N260. NB saw chunky activity as well and closed unchanged at N160. Nestle also closed unchanged at N910.01 on good volume while Unilever closed up an impressive 6.6% at N56.50. The banking sector closed up 17bps with ETI (+3%, N15.45), FBNH (+5.21%, N20) and Stanbic (+4.62%, N12.92) leading the way. Most focus remains on the Tier 1 names as these are still seeing the lion’s share of market action.

South Africa: Top 40 +0.07%, USD 1.71bn

The JSE ended the day slightly higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 0.07% to close at 34,191 while value traded amounted to USD 1.71bn. Resources were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 1.68% while Industrials and Financials fell 0.72% and 0.10%. The Rand was trading at 9.17 and 11.92 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE +0.48%, USD 22k

Another dire day in Lusaka with value traded amounting to USD 22k. The names that traded included CEC, LAFA, PUMA, ZMBF, ZNCO and ZSUG. ZMBF was the biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 19k. CEC was the second biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 1k.

Zimbabwe: Industrials +0.25%, Mining +0.65%, USD 970k

ZSE shares recovered from a two day lull with the main stream industrial index rebounding +0.25% to 188.84pts while the mining index saw a +0.65% gain taking it to 69.87pts. Trades however remain thin on the bourse with the value of trades failing to breach the $1m mark with the day’s total coming in at $0.97m indicating a 16% improvement on yesterday. Hippo, Innscor and BAT emerged the most liquid stocks for the day after accounting for an estimated 22%, 20% and 19% of the total value for the day. The Volume of shares traded a 247% boost from that achieved yesterday courtesy of block trades in property concern ZPI in which 4,985,596 shares traded which was 65% of the volume for the day.

African Currencies