Movers & Shakers: February 27, 2013

Botswana: DCI +0.50%, USD 1.36m

Gaborone lit up this morning as some chunky crosses went through in Letshego with the name closing at 215t and accounting for most of the day’s action. Choppies was the other name that traded and closed unchanged at 243t.

Egypt: EGX -0.55%, USD 39m

The market traded with a mixed sentiment today to end the day in negative territory, leaving the EGX30 to end the day down 0.55% to close 5515.68 points. The market continues to trade weak volumes compared to average turnover, the market traded a total turnover of USD 39m, its worth mentioning that more than 8% was attributed to crosses in EAST. With the ongoing political tension the country is now facing alongside the continuous lack of a catalyst the market started the day with a positive sentiment to reach a high of 5,559.64 points with local retail as notable buyers in the market, yet after 30min international institutional investors turned to be sellers pressuring the market to trade in the reds, targeting names such as MOIL, OCDI and ETEL each ending the day down 1.82%, 1.49% and 1.33% respectively.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Sellers by 27.51 mn EGP and were 25.57% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Buyers by 17.11 mn EGP and were 68.65% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Buyers by 10.39 mn EGP and were 5.78% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Sellers by 20.50 mn EGP and were 38.47% of the market.
•  Retail were net Buyers by 20.50 mn EGP and were 61.52% of the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 +0.99%, USD 7.3m

Equity turnover climbed 7%, with foreign investor participation improving to account for 43% of trades compared to 15% in the previous session. Overall, foreign investors were net buyers in the market accounting for over 90% of demand in EABL, BOC, Safaricom, Equity Bank and Transcentury. EABL (+0.4%) was the day’s top mover accounting for 47% of volumes. BOC witnessed unusually high volumes today accounting for 9% of shares traded. Banking stocks KCB and Equity bank continued to see high investor interest ahead of FY12 performance figures set to be announced tomorrow. E.A Cables sustained its momentum gaining 8.7% to KES 14.95, after posting strong FY12 earnings yesterday. Access Kenya recouped losses made in previous sessions climbing 6.9% to KES 6.20. Kengen was also among the top gainers list notching higher 5.6% to KES 12.25. The power generator announced 1H13 performance figures at the close of trading, posting 10% y/y rise in EPS . On the losing end KCB eased 1.9% to KES 38.50 on profit taking.

Mauritius: Semdex -0.29%, USD 1.02m

A soft day in Mauritius as SBM, NMH and Alteo all close in the red. These losses were somewhat offset by gains in ENL Land, Terra and Bramer Banking. Most of the day’s action was in MCB yet the name ended unchanged at Rs184 while SBM fell 98bps to Rs101.

Nigeria: ASI +0.37%, USD 37.42m

Active day in Lagos with crosses in Zenith just before the close the real boost to the day’s turnover. Zenith closed down 1.81% at N21.11 on big volumes. The banking sector closed down a meager 13bps on good vols across the board. The best performer in the sector was UBA which closed up 2.5% at N8.20. The consumers also saw chunky activity, particularly in Nestle and NB, closing up 33bps and 1.4% at N903.06 and N166.30 respectively. PZ closed up 6.32% at N40.40 but on light vols.

South Africa: Top 40 -0.82%, USD 1.50bn

The JSE ended the day lower with the Top 40 Index falling 0.82% to close at 34,854 while value traded amounted to USD 1.50bn. Resources were the day's biggest losers with the Index falling 0.97% followed by Industrials and Financials which fell 0.78% and 0.61% respectively. The Rand was trading at 8.86 and 11.63 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE -0.56%, USD 365k

Zambia on fire today thanks to crosses in SCZ and LAFA with value traded amounting to USD 365k. The names that traded included BAT, CEC, LAFA, PUMA, SCZ, ZSUG and ZNCO. SCZ was the biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 155k. LAFA was the second biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 101k.

Zimbabwe: Inudsutrials -0.84%, Mining -6.16%, USD 1.53m

A mid week sell off in Delta and SeedCO saw the industrial index drop 1.56 pts (-0.84%) to close at 183.81 pts despite market improvement in activity across the board. Forty six stocks registered trades against an average of twenty seven in the last five trading sessions. Volumes traded were up +302% at 9.31m shares while the value of trades closed 238% up at $1.53m. Dairibord trading at an improved price of 29c saw 2.8m shares trading making the group the most liquid stock for the day while other notable trades were seen in Econet, CBZ, BAT and Innscor. Demand for the day got a boost from foreign buyers that accounted for an estimated 61% of total turnover while foreign disinvestments were up 26% at $0.16m. The mining index closed -6.16% softer at 74.67pts dragged down by losses in FALGOLD that shed -18.75% to 13c and Hwange that came off -15.8% at 16c. The other two mining stocks BINDURA and RIOZIM were unchanged.

African Currencies