Movers & Shakers: August 28, 2012

African Currencies

Botswana: DCI unch, USD 186k

The activity in Gaborone picked-up somewhat to close at $186k with no change in the index. 10 names traded but the activity was skewed by two names, the usual suspect Letshego with Sefalana also relatively active. There were two price changes, Choppies +3t to 168t and Sechaba +50t to 1400t.

Egypt: EGX 30 +0.83%, USD 130m

The Market managed to continue to trade with a positive sentiment, leaving the EGX30 to end the day up 0.83% to close at 5,325.36 points. Market volumes continue to improve significantly compared to recent market turnover, market traded at total turnover of USD 130m. The market managed to end the day in positive territories with local institutions along with local retail investors supporting the market by being the sole net buyers today continuing with their buying frenzy which started earlier this week, yet international investors continue to decrease their exposure in the market to be the sole net-seller along with GCC retail investors. COMI lead the market in terms of volumes, the name gained notable in buying interest to end the day up 1.90% on volumes of 4.3mil shares.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Sellers by 17.06 mn EGP and were 25.42% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Buyers by 56.38 mn EGP and were 64.42% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Sellers by 39.32 mn EGP and were 9.96% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Buyers by 35.55 mn EGP and were 38.02% of the market.
•  Retail were net Sellers by 35.55 mn EGP and were 61.97% of the market

Kenya: NSE 20 +0.08%, USD 3.20m

Fairly decent day in Nairobi with value traded amounting to $3.20m. There was renewed foreign interest in BATK as a total of 150k shares traded thanks to a large cross with foreigners accounting for 99% of purchases in the name. Locals dominated activity in Barclays as a total of 2.27m shares traded over the day. Safcom was relatively active as 8.10m shares traded with foreigners accounting for 73% of purchases. Foreigners were net buyers and accounted for $1.54m of total purchases while they accounted for $190k of total sales. The market closed higher with the NSE 20 Index gaining 0.08% to close at 3,842.38. The World Bank agreed to provide partial loan guarantees to four private Kenyan power companies.

Mauritius: Semdex -0.36%, USD 2.6m

Another active day in Mauritius today but with the activity spread around a bit more and the market falling -0.36%. Rogers was active again with crosses accounting for over 80% of the activity. The banking name MCB was the most active name accounting for almost 40% of the total activity traded unch at 162.00. The other large bank, SBM lost -0.61% to close at 81.50. IBL was the lone name from the Sem-7 to manage a gain +1.28%. The hoteliers especially had a tough session with NMH losing -1.75%, Sun Resorts -1.97% and Lux Island Resorts -3.43%.

Nigeria: ASI +0.17%, USD 10.91m

The market opened stronger after the strong performance yesterday, there was a bit of weakness in the middle of the session before the market strengthened towards the latter part of the session. The banks performed well with FBN and GTB the outperformers from the top tier +1.07% and +1.13% respectively. The conglomerates and the food & bev names found the going much tougher, notably PZ -3.16%, Unilever -0.6%, DangS -3.43%. NB had a very quiet day closing unch at 121.61. The highest value of trades were in Zenith, GTB, FBN and Access.

South Africa: Top 40 -0.41%, USD 1.21bn

The JSE ended the day lower with the Top 40 Index falling 0.41% to close at 31,521while value traded amounted to USD 1.21bn. Resources were the day's biggest losers with the Index falling 0.71% followed by Industrials and Financials which fell 0.15% and 0.08% respectively. The Rand was trading at 8.40 and 10.56 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE -0.86%, USD 75k

Not much went on in Zambia today besides a cross in ZAIN with value traded amounting to USD 75k. The names that traded included CECZ, LAFA, PUMA, REIZ, SCBL, ZMFA, ZNCO and ZSUG. ZAIN was the biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 70k. ZSUG was the second biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 975.

Zimbabwe: Industrial Index +0.14%, Mining Index unch, USD 536k

The industrial index snapped a six day downward trend as heavy cap lead recovery. The industrial index rose 0.14% to 130.96points spurred by Delta which advanced 1.17% to 69c, Innscor recovered 0.19% to 54c, Old Mutual added 2.58% to 155c and Natfoods which put on 4.17% to 125c. Hippo reversed yesterday’s loss to gain 3.96% to 105c albeit on thin volumes. Trading in the negative was AICO which lost 5.26% to 9c and closed net offered at 9c. Telecoms giant Econet was steady at 415.22c. The group announced that they have reached an agreement with Netone in which they will abide by the terms of the 2004 Interconnect Agreement. Volumes improved to 8.4m shares as active stocks rose to 37 stocks. The value of trades however remains depressed with Delta and Innscor being the only heavy caps to record reasonable volumes. Turnover amounted to $536,081 with forei gn investors accounting for 73%. Going forward the equities market is expected to remain sluggish as negotiations on the amendments to constitution take centre stage. No activity was recorded in the resources sector.