Movers & Shakers: April 16, 2012

Botswana: DCI -0.27%, Vols USD 416k

The market closed the day lower with the DCI falling 0.27% to close at 7,056.62 while value traded amounted to USD 416k thanks to a cross of 300k BIHL at 1,000t. Chobe, Lelole, Primetime and Turnstar were the only names to close higher on the day. BIHL, Cresta and RDCP were the only counters that closed softer.

Egypt: Closed for the day.

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.36%, Vols USD 2.84mill

A quiet trading day across the whole of Sub Saharan Africa and Kenay was no exception with nothing remarkable to report on. The NSE 20 closed down 36bps on vol of just $2.84mill. A large chunk of todays vol came from KNCB which saw foreign activity heavily skewed on the buy side. Much of the day’s trading in the name went through at KES24 although the name closed unch at KES23.75. Somewhat surprisingly, Uchumi Supermarkets was a big contributor although mostly local action. Equity Bank, Safcom and EABL were all relatively quiet on the day. On the currency side, the shilling was soft (KES83.18) on the back of higher fuel prices.

Mauritius: Semdex -0.23%, Vols USD 1.43m

Today's trading session was dominated with crosses in the banking stocks which accounted for 84% of total turnover. MCB closed the day lower at 166 (-0.60%) after a number of crosses that went through in the name, there was a large cross of 71,500 shares that went through at 165 early in the session. There were a number of smaller crosses that followed. SBM also fell 0.61% to close at 81.50 after two crosses of 48,900 shares and 10,400 shares that went through at 81. NMH gained 0.71% to close at 70.00 after a cross of 13,700 shares at 70.00. Total turnover for the day amounted to USD 1.43m while the market closed the day lower with the Semdex falling 0.23%.

Nigeria: ASI -0.10%, Vols USD 7.84mill

Once again technical delays hampered the start of the Nigerian bourse today. And even after the opening at times the market felt so sluggish one could be forgiven for thinking that the technical issues were still persisting. The ASI closed up marginally 10bps on thin vols of only $7.84mill. Pleasingly, the banking sector closed up 51bps with much of todays trading focused around FCMB, GTB, UBA, FBN and Zenith. Consumer names like NB and Guinness were quiet. While the market was sluggish a number of company results came out, with the bigger names that reported today including Dangsuga, Skye Bank and Fidelity Bank. Dangsuga closed up 1.11% at N3.64 while Skye Bank and Fidelity Bank closed up 1.31% and 4.93% at N3.90 and N1.49 respectively. Please remember that Nigeria is due to announce theur Mar inflation data on Wed 18 April.

South Africa: Top 40 -0.12%, Vols USD 1.57bn

Another slightly down day in Johannesburg while Euro markets were slightly bullish. Resources struggled all day and closed down 15bps but financials (-87bps) were a mixed bag with NED (-1.9%) and FSR (-1.2%) the biggest drag on the sector. Among the best performers in the Top 40 were CFR, ASR, ABL and IMP while the biggest laggards were NED, MTN, LON and APN. The Rand traded pretty much unch at R7.96 v the USD and R10.41 v the EUR.

Zambia: LuSE +0.50%, $66k

Quiet day in Lusaka. The top turnover was in CEC which traded more than half todays vols while among the best performers we had PUMA (+6.91%, K1,176) and SCBL (+2.04%, K80) in an otherwise unremarkable day. The index continues to struggle currently down 4.10% for the year to date.

Zimbabwe: Industrials -0.90%, Mining Unch, Vols USD 472k

The market ended the day mixed with the Industrial Index falling 0.90% to close at 132.93 while the Mining Index ended the day flat at 88.80. The Industrial Index was dragged lower by the likes of Lafarge, National Foods and Seedco. While Rio was the only name that traded in the Mining sector after the company's rights issue closure on Friday the 13th. Quiet day in terms of turnover with value traded amouting to USD 472k.