Movers & Shakers: February 28, 2013

Botswana: DCI +0.12%, USD 430k

Although volumes were much lower than the previous session, we still saw a much more active market than normal in Gaborone. Most of this was due to Choppies accounting for more than 70% of the turnover, the name closing at 245t. Some action in FNBB and scraps in other names.

Egypt: EGX -0.48%, USD 46m

The market continued with its bearish sentiment today lead by notable selling form international institutional investors after being net buyers for last couple of sessions, the EGX30 ended the day down 0.48% to close at 5,489.46 points. The market continues to trade weak volumes yet an improvement to this weeks volumes, the market traded a total turnover of USD 46m. The market traded the day with a negative sentiment with ongoing political distress leaving international institutional investors worried about the ongoing economical woes on Egypt, names such as ETEL, PHDC and ORTE witnessed notable selling today each ending the day down 1.35%, 1.30% and 1.18% respectively. HRHO managed to trade against the market sentiment on above average volumes, this comes after news that HRHO has completed and submitted the required Qinvest documents to EFSA, the former ended the day up 3.35%..

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Sellers by 22.83 mn EGP and were 14.98% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Buyers by 16.27 mn EGP and were 79.38% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Buyers by 6.55 mn EGP and were 5.63% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Sellers by 10.54 mn EGP and were 27.75% of the market.
•  Retail were net Buyers by 10.54 mn EGP and were 72.24% of the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 +0.11%, USD 2.9m

Equity turnover fell 60.2% driven by decreased foreign investor inflows. Foreign investor participation eased to 24.8% of trades compared to 43% in the previous session. The NSE 20 index continued to witness minimal gains climbing 0.11% to 4,518.59 points. ARM was the day’s top mover accounting for 22% of volumes with local investors taking up 100% of supply. Of the top movers only Equity Bank and KenolKobil witnessed meaningful gains climbing 2.3% and 1.8% to KES 13.50 and KES 28.50 respectively. Equity bank announced FY12 performance figures today posting a 13% y/y growth in EPS. KCB continued to witness profit taking slipping 0.6% to KES 38.25. Mumias led the top losers listing dipping 13.4% to KES 4.20 on a supply overhang, after announcing a profit warning and a loss for its 1H13 performance. Unga Ltsd also eased 1.7% to KES 14.55 after posting a 43% y/y decline in 1H13 EPS. Scan Group remained unchanged at 71.50 after posting weak FY12 performance figures (EPS down 13% y/y) though foreign investors were net sellers in the counter. Kengen and Kenya Power on the other hand gained 0.4% and 3.9% to KES 12.30 and KES 17.45 respectively after posting strong 1H13 performance figures. BAT released FY12 performance figures at the close of trading today posting a 6% y/y rise in EPS. The company announced a final dividend of KES 32.5 per share.BMBC was another name that released FY 2012 numbers after the close which saw EPS falling to 12.17 Shillings.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.14%, USD 1.62m

The Semdex and the Sem-7 both closed in the green mostly due to the strong close in NMH (+1.41%, Rs72). All the other names in the Sem-7 closed unchanged with most of the action in SBM and Terra. In the hotel sector Lux Island Resorts closed down 2.29% at Rs17.10 while Sun Resorts closed up 3.1% at Rs29.90.

Nigeria: ASI -1.97%, USD 47.46m

Chunky crosses in NB, Nestle and Unilever on the open stunned the market which meant outside of this the first hour or so was extremely quiet, after which the volumes picked up and it ended up a very active session. The index did take a big hit closing down almost 2% with profit taking evident across most of the banks and in particular the consumers. The BNK10 closed down 63bps with most of the names closing in the red. The consumers got hit much harder: NB (-78bps, N165), Guinness (-5.8%, N276), Nestle (-1.67%, N888), Dangsuga (-1.72%, N8.01) and Cadbury (-85bps, N34.90). Heavyweight Dangote Cement closed down 5.79% at N146.02 dragging the index down ever further.

South Africa: Top 40 +1.15%, USD 1.80bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 1.15% to close at 35,254 while value traded amounted to USD 1.80bn. Financials were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 1.62% followed by Industrials and Resources which gained 1.14% and 0.72% respectively. The Rand was trading at 8.98 and 11.75 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE +0.69%, USD 65k

Activity slowed down drastically in Lusaka today (but we have seen worse) with value traded amounting to USD 65k. CEC was the biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 46k. LAFA was the second biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 15k.

Zimbabwe: Inudsutrials -0.64%, Mining -3.56%, USD 3.96m

The ZSE slid in the final call of the month as the main stream industrial index closed at 182.64 down 0.64% for the day. In a fairly improved trading session, the highest for the week turnover wise, that saw the value of trades surge 159% to $3.96m buoyed by resurgent foreign participation with purchases at $2.84m up 203% and sales at $2.0m. Block trades in Astra (3m shares) and Innscor (719,000 shares) also highlighted the session in trades worth $172,500 and $675,860 respectively. Econet emerged the top traded stock for the day as its shareholders approved a ten for every one share split at an EGM held today. Innscor also witnessed some notable trades on the back of the block trade while other notable trades were seen in DZL, BAT and CBZH. The Mining index dropped -3.56% to 72.01pts weighed down by nickel miners Bindura that shed -10.71% to 2.5c. the rest of the mining stocks were unchanged.

African Currencies