Movers & Shakers: August 14, 2013

Botswana: DCI -1.13%, USD 148k

After yesterday’s fireworks it was a return to the normal dull activity in Gaborone. Volumes were quiet across the board with the most action taking place in FNBB, Sefalana and Turnstar.

Egypt: EGX 30 -1.70%, USD 46m

With ongoing clashes between security forces and Mursi supporters in various Egyptian cities as they try to disperse their 2 major sit-ins and already succeed in one "Al Nahda Sq" leaving hundreds injured and several dead, the market witnessed a red session leaving the EGX 30 to end the day down 1.70% to close at 5,549.19 points, volumes were with in recent average turnovers, the market traded a total turnover of USD 46m. The Egyption market authority’s decided to close the market tomorrow.

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.23%, USD 76.5m

There was some early fireworks in Nairobi today with a very large cross in NMG (19.14m shares at 313). The counter saw 10.10% of its issued shares sold to a foreign domiciled entity at KES 313. As of December 2012, AKFED was the only single shareholder with holdings of more than 10% in Nation Media Group. Safcom managed to bounce back after yesterday's fall with the counter gaining 1.3% to close at 7.75 on good volume with noticeable foreign interest returning to the counter. Scangroup extended its gains climbing another 2.8% to KES 74.50, after its largest shareholder Cavendish indicated that it intends to increase its shareholding in the company. Value traded reached an all-time high of $76.5m today thanks to the NMG cross.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.52%, USD 611k

The Mauritian bourse rebounded today as the Semdex and Sem-7 rose by 52bps and 62bps respectively. There was only 1 faller in the Sem-7, this being Terra which fell a miniscule 12bps to Rs40.10. The gainers were NMH (+3.52%, Rs66.25), Alteo (+29bps, Rs34.20), ENL Land (+1.19%, Rs42.50) and Bramer Banking (+5%, Rs6.30). In other news, Mauritius tourist arrivals were up 1.6% in July 2013.

Nigeria: ASI -1.24%, USD 46.29m

A mammoth day in Lagos although about half of this was in 1 cross in Zenith Bank early on at N21 (both sides local). Outside of this, the first half of the session was extremely quiet before some activity towards the close spiked up the total volumes. Banks (-70bps) continue to sell off albeit at a gentle pace – the main fallers were FBNH (-3.82%, N16.10) and UBA (-3.68%, N7.58). The consumers got an absolute hiding as the sector lost 2.62% for the day. Most of this was due to softness in Nestle (-7%, N930) although some buyers appeared towards the close in the name. PZ also fell by 8.68% to N40.18 although it was on thin volumes. On the positive side, UACN reversed yesterday’s weakness by gaining 3.65% to N57.01.

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

South Africa: Top 40 +0.86%, USD 1.54bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 0.86% to close at 38,564 while value traded amounted to USD 1.54bn. Resources were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 1.35% followed by Financials and Industrials which gianed 0.97% and 0.49% respectively. The Rand was trading at 9.93 and 13.17 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE unch, USD 19k

Another dull day in Lusaka with value traded amounting to a dire USD 19k. There was a small amount of activity in Zambeef ($7k) and AELZ ($5k).

Zimbabwe: Inudsutrials -2.50%, Mining -3.05%, USD 3.16m

ZSE was soft in its first day of trading following the Heroes and Defence holidays earlier in the week. It was weighed down by heavy weight losses that saw the Industrial Index come off -2.5% to 191.11pts. Lafarge led the shakers retreating -22.2% to close at 105c while other losses were in BAT which went down -4.8% to 1400c, Delta slumping -4.2% to 114c, Econet dropping -1.9% to 53c, Dairibord giving up -4.8% to 20c and retailers OK and financial giant Old Mutual both shedding -4% to 24c and 240c respectively. Colcom which issued a profit warning for its June ended finals largely due to write offs realized in the year came off -6.3% to 30c and closed net sellers. The resources Index also slid -3.05% to 56.17pts as Bindura dipped -27% to 1.8c on $58 worth of trades. Turnover declined -25.1% to $3.16m with leading contributions coming from Econet $1.6m, Delta $0.61m and Dairibord $0.48m.

African Currencies