Movers & Shakers: April 17, 2012

Botswana: DCI -0.06%, Vols USD 427k

Decent enough day today with value traded amounting to USD 427k thanks to a cross of 300k BIHL @ 1,000. The market closed the day rather flat with the DCI falling 0.06% to close at 7,052.55. There were no names that closed in positive territory while Cresta was the only name to close the day lower (95t, -5t).

Egypt: EGX 30 -1.19%, Vols USD 43m

The market managed to end the day in negative territory, leaving the EGX30 to end the day down 1.19%, to close at 4678.95 points. Volumes notably weak, market traded a total turnover of USD 43M. Volatility continued throughout the day today in Egyptian blue-chips as institutional investors (International) continue to book profits, on the back of increase political uncertainty in Egypt as Election Committee stated that it will reach its final verdict today on the presidential candidate list after excluding 10 names last Saturday. Local institutions along with local retail remain net buyers. EMOB continues to lead the market in terms of volumes, the name continues to gain the market interest on the back the expected FT deal, the name ended the day up 0.01% to close at 179.99 on volumes of 400,890 shares.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Sellers by 34.76 mn EGP and were 41.29% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Buyers by 27.64 mn EGP and were 53.08% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Buyers by 7.11 mn EGP and were 5.63% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Sellers by 10.61 mn EGP and were 49.21% of the market.
•  Retail were net Buyers by 10.61 mn EGP and were 50.78% of the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 +0.50%, Vols USD 5.26mill

As has been the case in recent weeks, a pretty active day in Kenya with $5.26mill trading. As noted a couple of weeks back, foreign interest in the major East African market has been returning due to improving macroeconomic fundamentals as well as stocks looking cheap. The NSE20 also showed a pleasing 50bp gain today. Most of the activity was in KNCB at the KES 24 level yet again although the name closed unchanged at KES 23.75. Foreign participation on the counter was almost entirely on the buy side. The rest of the trading action was evenly split between KNAL, EQBNK, Safcom, MSUG and KPLL with foreign participation amongst these stocks mostly on the buy side of Safcom. Safcom closed unch at KES 3.20 while EQBNK closed up 76bps at KES 19.90.
In other news, a 4.6-magnitude earthquake hit Nairobi at about 5am local time this morning, although no damage was reported with the centre of the earthquake being near Limuru, around 137km north-west of Nairobi.

Mauritius: Semdex -0.30%, Vols USD 847k

The market was a bit quieter today with value traded amounting to USD 847k. Banking stocks came under pressure with MCB and SBM falling 1.2% and 0.6% respectively. There were a few smaller crosses that went through in MCB during the trading session. NMH was rather quiet with a total of 16k shares traded and no decent crosses to talk about, the name closed at 71.00. The market closed the day lower with the Semdex falling 0.33% to close at 1,792.60.

Nigeria: ASI +0.32%, Vols USD 20.66mill

Once again technical issues dominated the day, this time because the link from the NSE to Bloomberg was down for most of the session. Banking was once again leading the charge as investors look to get involved in the sector again with the BNK10 up 1.08%. First Bank dominated the headlines after they released a set of very strong FY11 results (Turnover +27%, PAT +53%, Div 80kobo). The results were released about 1 hour into the session although it looked suspiciously like they had been leaked before the session as the name opened on limit up and traded there all day, closing at N9.72 with a strong bid and no offers in sight. NB also had a strong day after yesterday’s strong results closing up 2.28% at N100.23 on good volume. UBA was also incredibly active with more than 254mill shares trading and the name closing unch at N2.51.

South Africa: Top 40 +0.35%, Vols USD 1.38bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 0.35% to close at 29,787 while value traded amounted to USD 1.38bn. Industrials were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 0.57% followed by Financials and Resources which gained 0.29% and 0.13% respectively. The Rand was trading at 7.79 and 10.24 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE -0.08%, USD 57k

Another quiet day in Zambia today with value traded amounting to USD 57k. The names that traded included AELZ, CECZ, LAFA, REIZ, ZMBF, ZNCO and ZSUG. ZMBF was the biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 51k. LAFA was the second biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 3k.

Zimbabwe: Industrials -0.53%, Mining +0.75%, Vols USD 499k

The market closed the day mixed with the Industrial Index falling 0.53% to close at 132.22 while the Mining Index gained 0.75% to close at 89.47. The Industrial Index was dragged lower by the likes of Barclays, DZL, Econet and Innscor. Bindura managed to gain 20% to help the Mining Index close in positive territory. The market was however rather quiet with value traded amounting to USD 499k.
Please note that the Zimbabwean market will be closed tomorrow due to Independance Day celebrations.