Movers & Shakers: August 06, 2012

African Currencies as at approximately GMT 16:30

Botswana: DCI unch, USD 114k

8 of the listed counters traded in Botswana today, all at unchanged prices. The total activity was relatively high at $ 114k. The very inactive counter, NAP, was the most active name on the day accounting for 65% of the activity with Letshego the next most active name, also traded flat at 140.00.

Egypt: EGX 30 -0.25%, USD 62m

The market ended the day on a negative sentiment on average volumes, leaving the EGX30 to end the day down 0.25% to close at 5,022.02 points. Market volumes continue to improve relative to recent market volumes, market traded a total turnover of USD 62m. Market started trading with day with a sense of panic lead by local retail investors this was mainly attributed yesterdays attack on Egyptian/Rafah border which resulted in 16 Egyptian soldiers killed, surprisingly by med-session local and international institutions stepped in lifted the market after trading more than 1.50% down to end the day down 0.25%. ESRS bucked the general trend, the name witnessed aggressive buying to end the day up 2.71% to last print at EGP8.08.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Buyers by 9.62 mn EGP and were 12.36% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Sellers by 9.15 mn EGP and were 80.43% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Sellers by 18.77 mn EGP and were 7.21% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Buyers by 31.41 mn EGP and were 25.40% of the market.
•  Retail were net Sellers by 31.41 mn EGP and were 74.59% of the market

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.34%, USD 1.96m

Very dull day in Nairobi with value traded amounting to $1.96m. Equity Bank was the only counter with some decent volume as 2.37m shares changed hands as foreigners accounted for the majority of the volume (87% of purchases and 96% of sales). There was quit a bit of foreign interest in Athi River Mining as they accounted for 100% of purchases in the counter with 170k shares traded. Locals completely dominated the action in Uchumi with a total of 1.09m shares traded on the day. Foreigners were net buyers and accounted for $1.2m of total purchases while they accounted for $600k of total sales. The market closed the day lower with the NSE 20 Index falling 0.34% to close at 3,830.24.

Mauritius: Semdex -0.29%, USD 629k

It was a quiet session in Mauritius today with only $629k worth trading, MCB was the only name from the Sem-7 that saw any real activity and closing -0.6% lower at 167.00. The other big bank, SBM also lost ground falling -0.61% to close at 82.00. ENL Land was the lone name from the Sem-7 that closed better off +0.78% closing at 38.700. Interestingly two of the Investment names were relatively active today, Alteo Limited closed at 31.2, -0.64% lower while United Docks traded at 80.5 (unch).

Nigeria: ASI -0.44%, USD 11.28m

Very little on the go in Lagos again today – only $11m traded with the mkt losing -0.44% by the close. The banks was where all the activity occurred, 80%. The most active names were the usual suspects, Zenith, GTB, NB, FBN and Nestle. All the top tier names closed in the black except FBN which lost -2.5%. Outside of the banks there is very little to report on, the cements were largely unchanged, including mkt heavyweight Dangote. The same can be said for the conglomerates while from the food & bev sector Dang S gained +1.01%.

South Africa: Top 40 +0.68%, USD 1.01bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 0.68% to close at 31,192 while value traded amounted to USD 1.01bn. Resources were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 0.87% followed by Industrials which gained 0.73% while Financials fell 0.06%. The Rand was trading at 8.15 and 10.10 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: Closed for the day

Zimbabwe: Industrial Index -0.25%, Mining -1.57%, USD 3.1m

Both indices opened the week soft as the fate of the draft constitution remains unclear following review of the document while a number of “sticking issue” have started emerging. The industrial index eased 0.25% to 133.10points while the mining index dropped 1.66points or 1.57% to 103.85points after Hwange lost 4.35% to 22c. Market sentiment was generally bearish with selling pressure evident in a number of stocks as losses outnumbered gains by 12 to 6 stocks. Regional banking group ABCH lost 3.51% or 2c to 55c after the completion of its $50m rights issue. Seedco and Old Mutual pared 1c apiece to 83c and 155c respectively. Volumes improved 123% to 14.8m shares spurred by foreign deals in Barclays and Delta. Value traded resultantly rose to $3.1m from $1.3m with foreign purchases accounting for 72% ($2.2m) while foreign sales at $2m was 64%. Beverages group, Delta picked 0.10% to 68c on foreign appetite with 3.2m shares valued at $2.2m exchanging hands. Barclays was steady at 3.2c and saw 8.3m shares exchange hands.