Movers & Shakers: December 10, 2012

African Currencies

Botswana DCI -0.15%, USD 65k

Rather quiet day in Gaborone with value traded amounting to USD 65k while the market closed the day lower with the DCI falling 0.15% to close at 7,515.85. The only stock with some noticeable activity was Barclays as 63k shares changed hands. There were no names that witnessed any price changes on the day.

Egypt: EGX 30 -1.50%, USD 38m

The market ended the day in negative territory on low volumes, leaving the EGX30 to end the day down 1.50% to close at 4,976.22 points. The market continues to trade low volumes compared with recent turnovers, the market traded a total turnover of USD 38m. Tensions continue to rise on the political front and fears of renewed clashes between supporters and oppositionists ahead of tomorrow’s calls for massive protests from Islamists(supporters). In-addition, the President's fast and contradicting revoke on tax increase decision and calling for "social dialogue" , which came after he issued the new tax laws under the auspices of his August 12th constitutional declaration, which granted him full legislative powers. Names such as COMI and ETEL witnessed notable selling, each ending the day down 2.70% and 2.44% respectively.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Buyers by 12.93 mn EGP and were 29.12% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Sellers by 18.39 mn EGP and were 67.19% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Buyers by 5.46 mn EGP and were 3.69% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Buyers by 26.94 mn EGP and were 39.61% of the market.
•  Retail were net Sellers by 26.94 mn EGP and were 60.38% of the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 +0.64%, USD 1.9m

After recent weeks of high activity, the NSE ran into a solid brick wall today as only $1.9m exchanged hands and the index fell a disappointing 69bps. Dramatically reduced foreign participation was very evident as foreign investors accounted for only 36.7% of the total turnover. Safcom and EABL were once again the most active names and 100% of both these names were foreign purchases. Foreign purchases were also 100% of Equity Bank while KNCB enjoyed local action on both sides. These were the only counters that saw any kind of activity today.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.13%, USD 815k

There is not much to report on in Mauritius today as the week got off to a slow start with value traded amounting to USD 815k while the market closed the day higher with the Semdex gaining 0.13% to close at 1,710.57. The two major banking stocks closed the day mixed with MCB gaining 0.61% to close at 166.00 while SBM fell 1.08% to close at 92.00. There was still substantial foreign interest in MCB today as the name closed with a very strong bid at 165. Rogers ended the day on a positive note with the hotel counter gaining 3.45% to close at 150.00.

Nigeria: ASI +0.58%, USD 13.75m

Dire market conditions persist in Nigeria with $13.76m trading. Despite this, buying interest remains strong as all sectors closed in the green. Yet again, the BNK10 leads the way in terms of turnover while the sector closed up 76bps for the session, with UBA (+4.17%, N4.75), Diamond Bank (+4.39%, N4.76) and Skye Bank (+5.26%, N4.20) leading the charge while the most actively traded names were Zenith, Guaranty and First Bank. In the consumers, Nigerian Breweries was relatively active and closed up 1.01% at N145 on good volume while Guinness is also actively bought, closing up 3.69% at N250. Cadbury was also bought up and closed up 4.56% at N29.80 although volumes in the name were light. Other news out was that the Q3 budget deficit more than doubled to N459.1bn.

South Africa: Top 40 +0.49%, USD 1.31bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 0.49% to close at 34,074 while value traded amounted to USD 1.31bn. Resources were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 0.87% followed by Industrials and Financials which gained 0.27% and 0.10% respectively. The Rand was trading at 8.69 and 11.24 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE +1.50%, USD 4.8k

Slow start to the week with value traded amounting to a paltry USD 4.8k. The names that traded included INVESTRUST, SCZ, PUMA, ZNCO and ZSUG. SCZ was the biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 2.3k. ZNCO was the second biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 858.

Zimbabwe Industrial -0.40%, Mining unch, USD 409k

The market losses continued in a dull week opening trades driving the main stream industrial index down -0.40% down to 148.05pts. Activity across the board remained low as the holiday mode slowly kicked in. The value and volume of trades stood at $409,844 and 3.53m which is -68.79% and -70.90% lower than Friday’s estimates respectively. In foreign participation, foreign buying aggregates were $140,686 whilst foreign sales were estimated at $203,473. Weighing on the market were losses in heavyweights Econet, Seedco, PPC and BAT. Econet traded 10c (-2.08%) softer at 100c on while Seedco was also 10c (-11.76%) down at 75c; PPC traded -0.49% lower at 205c and cigarette manufacturers BAT shed -2.5% to 390c. The mining index remained stable at 65.94pts. Half participation was recorded as two counters Bindura and Rio Zim traded small volumes at previous prices of 1.3c and 55c.