Movers & Shakers: April 27, 2012

Due to the holidays there will only be abridged Movers and Shakers for today as well as Monday 30 April 2012.

Kenya: NSE20 -0.64%, Vols USD 7.68mill

A relatively quiet day in Nairobi until some crossing went through in EABL at the KES213 level with foreign activity mostly on the buy side of the name. The large cross went through about 1 hour before the close ramping up volumes. Despite this, most eyes were focused on EqBnk and KNCB after both the banks released their Q1 results. Despite the fact that both banks produced good results, KNCB closed down 2.17% at 22.50 on good volume while EqBnk closed down 1.2% at 20.50. We feel this is just some profit taking as demand for both banks remains strong. Safcom was quiet for the session with just 3.3mill shares trading and closing unchanged at 3.30.

Nigeria: ASI +0.05%, Vols USD 19.44mill

Another decent day for volumes in Nigeria while the index closed up marginally by 5bps. The BNK10 index has been showing recent signs that the rally in the sector is coming to an end and today the sector closed down 18bps although vols were again relatively perky. UBA continues to rally after their good Q1 results and closed limit up for the 7th day in a row at N3.57. The name also closed on strong bid at limit up, hence we expect this up-trend to continue on Monday. Other banks also had active days with FBN closing up just 28bps and GTB closing up 2.37%. In the consumer names, NB was extremely active with more than 8.1mill shares trading at 110.05. The name closed down 81bps at 110.10 which is also the level that saw the majority of the crossing. Guinness was quiet yet again and closed at 237.03. In other news, the NSE announced that they have plans to start trading bonds within the next 12 months in an effort to build liquidity and depth in fixed income, equities and traded funds.