Movers & Shakers: August 05, 2013

Botswana: DCI -0.07%, USD 396k

A chunky cross of 1.3m Letshego at 223t the main highlight of an otherwise lackluster day in Gaborone. The Letshego trades accounted for about 86% of the total turnover with the only other stocks to have traded being Choppies (203t) and Sefalana (560t).

Egypt: EGX 30 +1.54%, USD 65m

The market managed to continue with its bullish momentum leaving the EGX30 to end the day up 1.54% to close at 5,615.36 points. The market traded improved volumes relative to recent turnovers, the market traded at total turnover of USD 65m. The market managed to keep its bullish momentum lead by notable buying from local institutions which is mainly attributed to reallocation their OCI's proceeds were names such as COMI, JUFO and ESRS benefited to end the day up 3.05%, 1.78% and 1.19 % respectively, yet its worth mentioning that local retail and international institutions continue to be net-sellers in the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 +0.13%, USD 4.7m

Activity slowed down after a rather frantic Friday with value traded amounting to $4.7m as foreign participation fell to 59.6% of turnover. Safcom led from a turnover point of view (21.7%) with foreign demand prevalent in the name as the counter gained 0.7% to close at 7.30. There was a large cross in BMBC of 200k shares at KES 217 relatively early in the session. The ministry of mining has proposed 1% royalties on gross sales value of industrial minerals, including limestone which if passed by parliament would squeeze margins of cement manufacturers. As a result of this announcement we saw the likes of Athi River Mining fall 1.46% to close at KES 67.50.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.01%, USD 1.04m

Nothing much in the way of excitement in Port Louis as the Semdex rose by just 1bp. The Sem-7 gained 20bps with only 1 stock in the index moving, that being MCB which gained 53bps to Rs191.

Nigeria: ASI -0.19%, USD 18.9m

Activity picked up in the last hour and added some respectability to a pretty quiet day. Banks (+63bps) were strong yet again with Tier 1 names the names most en vogue. All Tier 1 names (bar a small fall in FBNH) closed in the green as the leading stocks were UBA (+2.14%, N8.60) and Guaranty (+1.11%, N25.60) while the Tier 2 names exhibited more softness, most particularly Stanbic which lost 4.46% to N18.00. Consumers were up 37bps for the day, strength in NB (+80bps, N179.33, on good volumes) and Dangote Sugar (+2%, N11.99) the main driving forces. Cements were much quieter today and got punished with Dangote Cement (-51bps), Ashaka (-1.96%) and Wapco (-7.41%).

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

South Africa: Top 40 +0.31%, USD 1.25bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining +0.31% to close at 37,334 while value traded amounted to USD 1.25bn. Resources were the day's biggest gainers with the Top 40 Index gaining 0.54% followed by Industrials and Financials which gained 0.24% and 0.14% respectively. The Rand was trading at 9.86 and 13.07 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zimbabwe: Industrials -11.09%, Mining -2.01%, USD 780k

The ZSE went into the red on the first day of trading following the announcement of full election results over the weekend. Industrials fell -11.09% to 205.57pts while minings retreated -2.01% to 65.00 pts. The losses resulted in the minimization of both indices’ YTD returns with industrials ending at +34.89% and minings at -0.18%. Minings fell on the back of reduced offer in BNC at 2.3c. The loss in industrials was mostly premised on declines in top capitalized stocks. Delta declined -20% to 120c and closed sellers only at 135c. Telecomms giant Econet slid -14.7% to trade at 58c on $458 worth of trades. Sugar cane processors Hippo fell -14.8% to 100c and ended buyers only at 100c. Diversified group Innscor was down -14.3% to 90c and closed on a tight spread of 85c - 90c. Retailers OK fell -13.3% to 26c. The leading loser of the day was clothing retailer Edgars which eased -28.6% to 10c on deals worth $21 and following was hotel group African Sun which gave up -25% to 1.5c.

African Currencies