Movers & Shakers: August 20, 2013

Botswana: DCI -0.07%, USD 3.93m

Chunky action in Sechaba accounted for 96% of today’s abnormally high turnover. Outside of this, we had some mild activity in Engen (760t) while only scraps traded in a handful of other names.

Egypt: EGX 30 +1.08%, USD 56m

With more support on an economical level with Saudi foreign minister stating that Arab nations will not hesitate to provide assistance and fill any foreign aid cut to Egypt adding to this the MB Supreme guide has been arrested last night which gave more certainty that the security forces has the situation under control, the market traded the day with a positive sentiment leaving the EGX30 to end the day up 1.08% to close at 5,386.76 points. Volumes has notably improved relative to recent market turnovers, the market traded a total turnover of USD 56m. Local investors( retail and institutions) continue to be bullish towards the market targeting names such as PHDC, ESRS and TMGH each ending the day up 2.56%, 2.07% and 2.06% respectively, yet it’s worth mentioning the international institutions continue to be notable seller the market pressuring names such as HRHO, COMI and ETEL.

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.22%, USD 5.2m

Turnover continued to drop in Nairobi today but was still rather active as value traded amounted to $5.2m. EABL was active and accounted for 35% of turnover as there were a number of large crosses in the name, unfortunately it came under some pressure to close at KES 314. Safcom's unbelieveable recent run continues with the telco gaining 0.6% on the day to close at KES 8.20, taking the yearly gain thus far to 61%. Standard Group eased 1.8% to KES 27, despite posting a 44% y/y rise in 1H13 EPS. Liberty Insurance recouped losses it made in the previous session to close at KES 12, 3.9% higher than yesterday.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.10%, USD 1.8m

An active day in Mauritius as the Sem-7 and Semdex both gained 10bps. There were 3 names that fell in the Sem-7, NMH (-70bps, Rs66.50), Terra (-2.1%, Rs39.25) and Bramer Banking (-1.7%, Rs5.90). The gainers were SBM (+90bps, Rs1.07), Alteo (+1.2%, Rs35) and ENL Land (+20bps, Rs43.10).

Nigeria: ASI -0.66%, USD 11.75m

An extremely quiet day in Lagos as many participants happy not being in the market. As a result, the index gently inched lower throughout the session to eventually settle down 66bps. The consumer names fell by 66bps today, predominantly dragged lower by NB which closed down 1.78% at N166 as sellers hit the bids continually throughout the day. NB was also the most active name in the sector. Banks were down 44bps for the day with selling quite sporadic across various names. Most of note was the results release of Guaranty (inline to slightly ahead of expectations) as the name rose by 1.12% to N25.30.

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

South Africa: Top 40 -0.29%, USD 1.23bn

The JSE ended the day lower with the Top 40 Index falling 0.29% to close at 38,384 while value traded amounted to USD 1.23bn. Resources were the day's biggest losers with the Index falling 0.70% followed by Financials and Industrials which fell 0.68% and 0.03% respectively. The Rand was trading at 10.15 and 13.63 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE +1.78%, USD 163k

Activity dropped off in Lusaka today but it was still better than average as value traded amounted to USD 163k. There was some action in the likes of PRIMA RE ($99k) and ZSUG ($30k).

Zimbabwe: Industrials -1.25%, Mining unch, USD 4.04m

ZSE Volumes and values were both firm with the former surging 133% to 17.5mn shares while the latter jumped 506% to $4.04m. The jump in turnover was largely driven by the block trade of 14.2mn OK shares valued at $2.8m which accounted for 81% of turnover. Telecoms giant Econet trailed with deals worth $0.58mn followed by brewers Delta with took up $0.48m at previous price of 114c. Four decliners were recorded weighing the industrials down by -1.25% to 182.75pts. Leading was the -16.7% fall in cigarette manufacturers BAT to end at 1,000c. Pan African seed producer Seedco with its AGM slated for 29 August 2013 declined -6.3% to 75c. Banking group FBC shed off -5.3% to buyers’ price of 9c ahead of its half year results tomorrow. Completing the list was Econet which slipped -1% to 50.47c closing with a tight spread of 50 - 51c. Diversified group Meikles traded firm at 29c after holding its AGM today with the major highlight being that the RBZ had acknowledged repaying approximately $66.5m it owes the company with the potential to ease pressure on borrowings.

African Currencies