Movers & Shakers: August 06, 2013

Botswana: DCI -0.01%, USD 44k

A very dull day in Gaborone with just some small activity in ABCH (490t) the only name that traded in anything more than scraps.

Egypt: EGX 30 +0.19%, USD 53m

The market traded with a mixed sentiment today to end the day in slightly higher, leaving the EGX30 to end the day up 0.19% to close 5,626.24 points. The market traded weaker volumes relative to yesterday’s volumes, the market traded a total turnover of USD 53m. The market started the day with a negative sentiment with local retail and international institutions as net sellers perusing the market to reach a low of 5,576.58 points, yet after med-session local and international institutions managed to lift the market as net buyers changing the market sentiment to trade in the greens, targeting names such as ESRS, TMGH and JUFO each ending the up 2.80%, 0.81% and 1.74% respectively. It’s worth mentioning that retail investors along with GCC institutions and international institutions ended the day as net-sellers targeting names such as OTMT, COMI and SKPC each ending the day down 1.69%, 1.30% and 1.15% respectively.

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.01%, USD 4.4m

Activity remained steady at $4.4m today with foreign participation dropping ever so slightly (-6.8%). EABL got things going early with a cross of 300k shares at KES 340 and accounted for 27% of today's turnover with foreigners on both sides of the cross. There was some local buying activity in Kenya Commercial Bank as the name edged up 1.2% to 43.25 ahead of H1 2013 results. Barclays Bank however fell 0.90% to close at KES 17.30 after posting a 12.5% fall in H1 2013 earnings. National Bank posted a 15.8% rise in H1 2013 results with the counter gaining 1.2% on the day.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.29%, USD 775k

The Port Louis bourse ticked higher again today with the Semdex and the Sem-7 up 29bps and 31bps respectively. The gainers amongst the Sem-7 were NMH (+1.52%, Rs67), Alteo (+30bps, Rs33.90), ENL Land (+1.19%, Rs42.50) and Bramer Banking (+1.59%, Rs6.40). The only faller in the Sem-7 was Terra which fell by 12bps to Rs40.15.

Nigeria: ASI -0.32%, USD 22.89m

The bears won the battle today with some profit takers pushing the index lower as volumes improved. Despite this, banks continue to grind higher as the sector closed up 15bps, most of this due to the 2.91% rise in UBA to N8.85) while Tier 1 names saw some chunky action, most notably UBA and Zenith. Tier 2 names actually had a poor day with Fidelity (-3%, N2.90) and FCMB (-1.55%, N4.46) the main laggards. Consumers lost 62bps for the day – most of this due to losses in NB (-1.86%, N176) and PZ (-2.17%, N45). Volumes were much lighter in the sector than we have seen in recent sessions.

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

South Africa: Top 40 -0.55%, USD 1.19bn

The JSE ended the day lower with the Top 40 Index falling 0.55% to close at 37,129 while value traded amounted to USD 1.19bn. Resources were the day's biggest losers with the Index falling 1.65% followed by Financials which fell 0.38% while Industrials gained 0.04%. The Rand was trading at 9.90 and 13.18 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE -0.84%, USD 22k

Yet another dire day as the Lusaka bourse continues to die a painfully slow death. There really is nothing of any note whatsoever to report on.

Zimbabwe: Industrials -1.72%, Mining -4.09%, USD 2.69m

Active stocks improved to 29 counters up from yesterday’s 19 in a highly active session that yielded $2.69m in total value traded. Of the active stocks, 2 gained, 19 lost and 8 traded unchanged. Value drivers of today’s $2.7m turnover were CBZ contributing $0.3m, Delta $0.5m, Econet $0.7m, OK $0.3m and Old Mutual $0.8m. Allied to the above was strong foreign participation with $1.3m in buys and $1.8m sales. Volumes also surged +19% to 6.4m. Despite renewed interest in equities industrials slid a further -1.72% to close at 202.03pts while minings weakened -4.09% to 62.34pts as the post election selloff continued. Contrary to isolated declines in Monday trades, widespread losses were noticeable particularly in small to mid tier stocks. The heavy weights Econet lost a further -5.2% to 55c, PPC eased -4.4% to 220c and Seedco came off a marginal -1.2% to 81c. Also joining the bandwagon were middle cap stock Dairibord falling -15.4% to 22c, diversified group Meikles down -18.8% to 26c, bankers FBC and recently rebranded insurance group First Mutual that shed -25% apiece to 9c and 12c respectively and construction company Masimba lost -21.6% to 10c. Leading loser was ART which dropped -33.3% to 0.4c.

African Currencies