Movers & Shakers: February 24, 2014

Botswana: DCI -0.05%, USD 42k

Gaborone remains dull with only tiny action in Choppies (391t).

Egypt: EGX 30 +0.66%, USD 166m

The market traded the day with a mixed sentiment leaving the EGX30 to end higher at 8,045.75 points up 0.46%. Volumes continue to improve compared to recent average turnovers, the market traded a total turnover of USD 166m. The market started the day with a negative sentiment to reach a low of 7,975.62 points lead by selling pressure from local institutions were names such as SKPC(-1.08%), GTHE(-0.79%) and AIND(-4.06%) witnessed some selling pressure. After med-session news confirmed that the government has resigned boosting the market sentiment to trade in the greens on speculation that Field Marshal Sisi will run for presidency considering he is now officially resigned. International institutions along with local retail investors ended the day as net buyers, targeting names such POIH(+6.99%), TMGH(+1.93%) and EKHO(+3.85%).

Kenya: NSE 20 +0.26%, USD 4.1m

It was a rather slow start to the week in Nairobi as value traded amounted to $4.1m as foreign participation fell with locals accounting for 64% of total activity. EABL put on another stellar performance as the brewer gained 8.2% on the back of local purchases with 253k shares changing hands. Banking stocks ended mixed with Kenya Commercial Bank closing unchanged while Equity Bank fell -0.8%. Mumias Sugar gained 1.6% as the sugar miller said that it had stopped all capital expenditure plans and was now looking for a strategic investor to partner on the TARDA irrigation project.

Mauritius: Semdex -0.04%, USD 272k

A very quiet day in Port Louis. Nothing much at all happened with the only stock on the Sem-7 moving being SBM which fell by 94bps to Rs1.05.

Nigeria: ASI +1.07%, USD 19.4m

After a quiet start the buyers returned to the banks. The banking sector gained 2.6% as it reversed last week’s softness in emphatic fashion. Tier 1 names were particularly strong with the exception of Access which slipped by 3.4% to N7.64 on good volumes. The best performers were UBA (+8.66%, N7.28) and FBNH (+4.9%, N12.58). Consumers closed the day unchanged with volumes once again focused on Nestle (unch, N1100) and NB (+64bps, N145.93). Oando remains firm and gained another 2.65% to N20.15.

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

South Africa: Top 40 -0.17%, USD 1.16bn

The JSE ended the day lower with the Top 40 Index falling 0.17% to close at 42,880 while value traded amounted to USD 1.16bn. Resources were the day's biggest losers with the Index falling 1.95% while Financials and Industrials gained 1.24% and 0.43% respectively. The Rand was trading at 10.87 and 14.90 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zimbabwe: Industrials -0.24%, Mining +1.87%, USD 660k

The Industrial Index was -0.24% worse off at 190.25pts by close of call extending losses that started late last week. The session was mixed with several stocks trading sideways. Heavies OK and Delta weighed on the index easing 1% and 0.7% to 19.3c and 124c respectively while Econet and Old Mutual mitigated the downside on gains of 0.03% and 0.02% to 63.62c and 242.55c in that order. Delta has largely been volatile in the year reaching a bottom of 116c against a top price of 142c reached earlier in the year. Today’s decline in the stock was however on a paltry volume of 7925 shares while OK which has been resilient in a falling market has been under pressure to rerate in line with the broader market. Elsewhere the Mining Index edged higher to close +1.87% up at 34.24pts. The gain was derived from a 17% gain in Falgold to 7c.

African Currencies