Movers & Shakers: August 13, 2013

Botswana: DCI -0.32%, USD 1.2m

Volumes spiked in Gaborone due to a chunky cross in Letshego at 220t, both sides foreign. Letshego closed at 221t. BIHL (1050t) saw some mild activity while some scraps traded in a handful of other names.

Egypt: EGX 30 +0.12%, USD 50m

The market ended the day on positive note, inching the EGX30 index 0.12% to close at 5,645.27 points on average volume of USD 50m. Local investors continued their buying spree and ended the day as the sole net buyers, with institutions targeting big caps while retail has clearly started to shift their positions to the lagging mid/small caps which left the EGX70 index outperforming to close up 2.75%. Internationals remained as heavy sellers on mounting concerns towards Egypt's current political situation.

Kenya: NSE 20 +0.10%, USD 3.8m

Better day in terms of activity in Nairobi but still nothing to write home about as value traded amounted to USD 3.8m on the back of an in crease in local activity. Kenya Commercial Bank was rather active yet again and accounted for 25% of today's volumes. There was some serious profit taking in Safcom today after what has been a very good run with the counter slipping 2.5% to close at KES 7.65 albeit on rather light volume. Mumias Sugar extended its losses easing further 5.1% to a new low of KES 3.75. The sugar miller, which issued a profit warning for its year ended 30 th June 2013, has witnessed a challenging business environment driven by increased cane poaching and reduced yields. Scan Group was the day’s top gainer climbing 11.6%, following news that its anchor shareholder Cavendish was increasing its stake in the company.

Mauritius: Semdex -0.10%, USD 721k

Another weak day in Mauritius as both the Semdex (-10bps) and the Sem-7 (-30bps) lost ground. In the Sem-7 we had only the 1 gainer which was Alteo Limited which rose by 30bps to Rs34.10. There were 2 fallers, ENL Land (-1.9%, Rs42) and Bramer Banking (-4.8%, Rs6.00).

Nigeria: ASI -0.57%, USD 29.89m

Another day of weakness in Lagos as the market drifted steadily south throughout the day. On the positive side, volumes picked up to an impressive $29.89m. Banks lost a mere 43bps thus arresting yesterday’s slide although they did sell off towards the close. Most banks closed slightly in the red although there were 2 gainers, viz FBNH (+84bps, N16.74) and Guaranty (+1.86%, N25.14). Consumers fell by a disappointing 1.15%, the fall being led by NB (-2.47%, N169.99), Guinness (-72bps, N248), UACN (-9.84%, N55) and Dangote Sugar (-3.07%, N11.04). Dangote Cement yet again witnessed some chunky trading yet closed unchanged at N194 for the second day in a row.

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

South Africa: Top 40 +0.43%, USD 1.49bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 0.43% to close at 38,235 while value traded amounted to USD 1.49bn. Resources were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 0.58% followed by Industrials and Financials which gained 0.40% and 0.23% respectively. The Rand was trading at 9.98 and 13.20 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE -1.47%, USD 38k

Much of the same in Zambia today with CEC ($23k) once again leading from the front as total value traded amounted to USD 38k. There was a small bit of activity in Zambeef ($9k) as well.

Zimbabwe: Closed for the day.

African Currencies