Movers & Shakers: August 01, 2012

African Currencies as at GMT 15:30

Botswana: DCI -0.12%, USD 355k

The activity levels picked up significantly but this was solely due to the increased activity in Letshego. The company traded unchanged at 140t. 8 of the listed counters traded with no names changing price. Please note it is possible for the index to change value despite no shares changing price due to the calculation used by the exchange.

Egypt: EGX 30 +1.50%, USD 57m

The Market managed to continue to trade with a positive sentiment, leaving the EGX30 to end the day up 1.50% to close at 4,935.59 points. Market volumes continue to improve compared to recent market volumes, market traded at total turnover of USD 57m. The market lost some of its bearish momentum, with the announcement of new government and the news that the new ministers will swear the oath tomorrow shedding much of the uncertainty clouding the market, optimism was quite evident surprisingly amongst International investors along with local institutions targeting various blue chips, It worth mentioning international institutions ended the day as net-buyers this came after weeks of trading the market as net-sellers. OTMT bucked the general trend the witnessed notable selling pressure, led by local retail investors mainly on the back of some profit taking, the former ended the day down 5.17% to close at EGP0.55.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Buyers by 40.23 mn EGP and were 22.91% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Sellers by 7.35 mn EGP and were 68.64% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Sellers by 32.23 mn EGP and were 8.44% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Buyers by 47.51 mn EGP and were 31.62% of the market.
•  Retail were net Sellers by 47.51 mn EGP and were 68.37% of the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.18%, USD 3.21m

Much better day in Kenya today with value traded amounting to $3.21m. Equity Bank was rather active as 3.67m shares changed hands thanks to a few decent crosses as foreigners accounted for 89% of purchases. EABL returned to prominence with 330k shares traded as foreigners accounted for 72% of sales in the counter. Activity in Kenya Commercial Bank picked up a bit with 1.73m shares traded with foreigners accounting for 66% of purchases. The market closed the day lower with the NSE 20 Index falling 0.18% to close at 3,825.65. Foreigners were net buyers and accounted for $1.78m of total purchases while they accounted for $1.55m of total sales.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.1%, USD 1m

Mauritius was quiet and traded sideways before closing marginally higher +0.1%. The activity centered around MCB and NMH which together accounted for almost 1/3 of the total value traded. MCB opened and closed at 167.00 while NMH leapt +2.94%. The only other name to change price from the Sem-7 was the conglomerate IBL -0.63%.

Nigeria: ASI +1.16%, USD 17.9m

Nigeria opened slightly higher and traded around +15/20bps stronger for most of the session before a sharp uptick and in the activity levels and the mkt advanced sharply with it to close +1116bps higher. The top tier banks accounted for most of the action as well as pulling the mkts higher, Zenith +3.89% and half the value traded, UBA another strong performer +2.05%. The mid-tier banks struggled today, Skye -4.12%, IBTC -2.14% and Fidelity -2.21%. DangC made a strong gain just before the results are due to be released +3.51%. The conglomerates were mixed PZ -2.08% while Unilever +2.86%. There a few more results today, most notably DangSuga Q2 2012 results: Turnover: +10.29%, PBT: +92.59%, PAT: +91.57%.

South Africa: Top 40 +1.56%, USD 1.42bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 1.56% to close at 30,859 while value traded amounted to USD 1.42bn. Industrials were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 2.11% followed by Financials and Resources which gained 1.10% and 0.73% respectively. The Rand was trading at 8.27 and 10.17 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE +0.08%, USD 19k

Volume decreased drastically today with value traded amounting to USD 19k. The names that traded included AELZ, BATZ, CECZ, LAFA, REIZ, PUMA, SCBL, ZAIN, ZNCO, and ZSUG. LAFA was the biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 10k. CECZ was the second biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 3.8k.

Zimbabwe: Industrial Index -0.21%, Mining -4.94%, USD 2.2m

ZSE losses spread into the third session as both indices closed the day weaker after RBZ midterm monetary review confirmed the dire economic conditions. The Industrial dropped 0.21% while the mining index lost 4.94% as it narrows its YTD gains to 5.84%. Twelve stocks traded in the negative against 6 gainers with financial stocks being the worst performing stocks after the monetary authorities raised minimum capital levels 800% to $100m from $12.5m for commercial banks. In the phased recapitalization process, banks have a six months period up to December 2012 to double their capital levels to $25m while by the end of 2013 they should have at least $75m with 100% compliance expected by end of 2014. AICO advanced 5.37% to 10.01c while Delta recovered 0.74% or 0.50c to 68c. Volumes dropped 26% to 7.7m while foreign purchases in Delta maintained daily turnover above $2m mark at $2.2m. Delta accounted for the bulk of the trades at 81% ($1.8m) after 2.6m shares exchanged hands. The mining index slipped a further 4.94% to 106.58points after gold miner Falgold was offered 5c lower at 30c without any bid in sight. Hwange and Rio were bid lower at 20c and 55c respectively while offers remained at 24c and 59c respectively.