Movers & Shakers: August 01, 2013

Botswana: DCI -0.44%, USD 60k

Another dull day in Botswana with only Letshego (224t) trading anything at all.

Egypt: EGX +0.96%, USD 28m

The market managed to pick up some of its bullish momentum leaving the EGX30 to end the day up 0.96% to close at 5,375.68 points. Market volumes were low relative to recent turnovers, the market traded a total turnover of USD 28m. The market started the day with a negative sentiment to reach a low of 5320.82 points, yet as expected following OCI's cash option transaction. Investors has clearly started to re-allocate their cash proceeds into the market with COMI(+3.14%) benefiting most so far as it's currently the heaviest weight in the EGX30. However, volumes are still quite thin at the moment yet would keep a close eye on blue-chips. The real-estate sector managed to re-gain interest today after witnessing pressure all week, names such as OCDI, PHDC and TMGH managed to end the day up 1.11%, 0.85% and 0.42% respectively.

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.13%, USD 3.5m

Activity continued to decrease today with value traded falling to $3.5m on th back of a further drop in foreign participation. Barclays Bank saw some action today and was the most active counter on the bourse thanks to a large cross early in the session as investors position themselves ahead of the company's H1 2013 figures which are due out on the 6th of August. EABL managed to bounce back today, gaining 1.2% to close at KES 339. There was however some profit taking evident in Safcom with the counter falling 0.7% to close at 7.25.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.33%, USD 529k

Some strength on the Mauritian bourse albeit on thin volumes. The Sem-7 gained 42bps with the gainers being the 2 major banks; MCB gained 79bps to Rs191 and SBM gained 99bps to Rs1.02 while the only faller was NMH which fell by 1.52% to Rs65.

Nigeria: ASI +1.00%, USD 21.95m

After a very quiet 1st part of the session we saw activity pick up as the day progressed to end up a passable $21.95m as the bulls pushed the index higher to start the month. Banks were up a mammoth 1.5% with all names bar Fidelity (-1.32%, N3.00) ending up in the green. All Tier 1 names were strongly up with UBA (+2.43%, N8.01) and Zenith (+2.28%, N20.20) the best of the bunch. The buyers also returned in the consumer sector (+82bps) with the leading lights in this sector being NB (+1.58%, N175.01), Guinness (+2.04%, N250) and Dangote Sugar (+3.52%, N11.75). Interestingly, the cement sector was the most active sector today with Ashaka Cement (+1.18%, N25.80) and Dangote Cement (unch, N194.72) the 2 most actively traded stocks for the day.

Please note that the index figure above is correct at the time of writing.

South Africa: Top 40 +1.71%, USD 1.36bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 1.71% to close at 37,473 while value traded amounted to USD 1.36bn. Resources were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 2.67% followed by Industrials and Financials which gained 1.40% and 0.38% respectively. The Rand was trading at 9.94 and 13.17 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE +1.63%, USD 15k

Another slow day in Lusaka with value traded amounting to a dire USD 15k. LAFA ($13k) was the only name with some form of activity while the rest of the market hardly traded.

Zimbabwe: Industrials +0.13%, Mining unch, USD 1.42m

Industrials opened the month on the up putting on +0.13% to 233.18pts while minings were flat at 66.77pts with no trades taking place in the sector. 22 industrial stocks traded with 4 gaining, 1 losing and 17 unchanged as the nation eagerly awaits results for the 2013 harmonized elections. Top capitalized counter Delta was the top contributor to today’s turnover amassing $0.93m with trades taking place at 150c and closed net sellers. Trailing was telecoms giant Econet shoring $0.2m with trades at previous price of 68c and closed net buyers at 65c. Also contributing was a block trade of 0.67m Astra at 6c and worth $0.04m. Renewed interest has been prevailing in Astra since the recent acquisition of 63.25% shareholding by Hemistar Investments an indigenous vehicle owned by Astra Management and staff and 49% by Kansai Plascon Africa Ltd.

African Currencies