Movers & Shakers: December 12, 2013

Botswana: DCI +0.01%, USD 90k

Better day in Gaborone but still not much to write home about as value traded amounted to USD 90k with BIHL driving activity.

Egypt: EGX 30 +1.79%, USD 96m

The market witnessed a notable rally today lead by strong buying from local investors, leaving the EGX30 to end the day up 1.79% to close at 6,604.65 points. Market volumes significantly improved today relative to recent turnovers, with the market trading a total turnover of USD 96m. Local retail investors were net buyers after being net sellers over the last a couple of sessions, with names such as AIND, HRHO, and GTHE witnessing above-average volumes, leaving each to end the day up 6.90%, 2.51%, and 2.63% respectively. The real-estate continued with its bullish momentum on strong volumes were names such as TMGH, OCDI and AMER witnessed above average volumes leaving each to end the day up 1.53%, 3.67% and 3.08% respectively.

Kenya: Closed for the day.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.52%, USD 2.10m

It was an extremely active day in Port Louis as value traded amounted to USD 2.10m. This however should be taken with a pinch of salt as a cross in United Investments drove activity as 4.56m shares changed hands in the counter. Things were rather quiet apart from this.

Nigeria: ASI -0.01%, USD 25.28m

Activity increased in Lagos today as value traded amounted to $25.28m. The usual suspects in the form of Nestle ($7.14m), Guaranty Trust Bank ($2.42m) and Zenith Bank (1.67m) drove activity thanks to a few large crosses and some good two-way flow. Banks ended the day slightly lower with the Bank Index falling -0.06% as second-tier banks FCMB (-2.79%) and Fidelity (-2.35%) dragged the sector lower. Consumers however managed to close higher with the Consumer Index gaining +0.25% thanks to Cadbury (+3.64%) and Flour Mills (+2.31%).

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

South Africa: Top 40 -2.92%, USD 1.72bn

The JSE ended the day lower with the Top 40 Index falling 2.92% to close at 38,575 while value traded amounted to USD 1.72bn. Resources were the day's biggest losers with the Index falling 3.01% followed by Industrials and Financials which fell 2.92% and 2.01% respectively. The Rand was trading at 10.43 and 14.34 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zimbabwe: Industrials -0.47%, Mining -2.06%, USD 1.85m

The mainstream index slid further into the red as heavies continued to weaken. Yesterday saw 5 top cap counters on the downside while in today’s session 3 top stocks closed softer to weigh on the industrials. OK lost 2.67% to 21c having reached a high of 28c on the 2nd of October 2013. The retailer is however 40% up year to date. Delta and Innnscor which were also among the fallers in the prior session, dropped 0.68% and 0.64% to 145c and 76.5c respectively, the 2 have prominently featured among the losers in the past few sessions as heavies weigh on the market. Industrials thus closed at 207.32pts which is 0.47% lower than prior level. The minings likewise shrunk 2.06% to its lowest levl year to date of 42.87pts. Most companies in the mining sector have found the going getting tough post dollarization, with most failing to raise substantial capital to reboot their business, high debt has also become a thorn in the flesh. Bindura was down 5% to 1.9c despite its interims results which showed a return to profitability.

African Currencies