Movers & Shakers: January 23, 2013

Botswana: DCI +0.35%, USD 611k

A change from the norm in Botswana today as the top traded stock was not Letshego. Choppies was the most active name accounting for 46% of the turnover as the name closed at 220t. Letshego was the next most active and closed at 202t. Interestingly, most names across the board traded which is not often the case in Gaborone.

Egypt: EGX 30 +0.16%, USD 152m

After trading in the red for the entire session to reach a low of 5,651.78 points, the EGX30 index managed to end the day in positive territory, up 0.16% to close at 5,689.23 points. Market volumes were deceiving today, the market traded a total turnover of USD 152m in which more than 60% of the total turnover was attributed to one cross in OCIC(transfer of ownership). Ahead of the 25th of January revolution anniversary, local retail investors continued to decrease their exposure to the market on the back fear of violence erupting over the weekend, yet institutional investors saw this as an opportunity and remained the market supporters, targeting various names such as OCDI, COMI and TMGH each ending the day up 3.06%, 0.35% and 1.67% respectively.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Buyers by 545.17 mn EGP and were 36.86% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Sellers by 14.26 mn EGP and were 30.07% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Buyers by 559.44 mn EGP and were 33.07% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Buyers by 632.85 mn EGP and were 43.20% of the market.
•  Retail were net Sellers by 632.85 mn EGP and were 56.79% of the market.

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE EGYTIAN MARKET WILL BE CLOSED TOMORROW.

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.99%, USD 4.2m

Equity turnover fell 22% in today’s session due to a decline in foreign investor and local investor activity. NSE 20 index shed 0.99% to close at 4417.17 points, with 13 of the counters traded gaining, 23 declining and the rest remaining unchanged. EABL (+0.7%) was the day’s top mover accounting for 32% of trades buoyed by foreign investor demand. Safaricom was also fairly actively traded accounting for 25% of volumes driven by foreign selling. The counter slipped 0.9% to KES 5.60. KCB and Equity bank also saw foreign selling pressure with equity bank easing 1% to KES 25.75. City trust gained 1.8% to KES 407. The counter has issued a shareholder circular providing additional details of the planned share swap with I&M Bank which will subsequently be listed on the main investments segment.

Mauritius: Semdex -0.02%, USD 675k

A marginal loss in the broader Semdex by 2bps while the Sem-7 fell by 21bps. The big losers in the Sem-7 were Alteo which fell by 2.94% to close at Rs33.00 while MCB continues to drop, closing down 56bps at Rs178. SBM closed unchanged at 91.50. NMH was the biggest gainer of the day, eventually closing up 3.03% at Rs68. IBL witnessed a number of crosses, the name eventually settling down 63bps at Rs78.50.

Nigeria: ASI +1.50%, USD 32.03m

Some notable crosses spiked up the turnover on an otherwise quiet day. A local cross of $7mill in NAHCO the main source of this high turnover while some other blocks went through in Unilever, NB and FBNH. The banks were strong across the board (BNK10 +1.12%) with all names in the green except for modest losses in FBNH, FCMB and Diamond Bank. In the consumers, Nigerian Breweries bounced back, closing up 1.31% at N153.99 on good volume while Unilever closed down marginally at N44.91. Please note that Nigeria is closed tomorrow as it is a public holiday.

South Africa: Top 40 +0.71%, USD 1.40bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 0.71% to close at 35,739 while value traded amounted to USD 1.40bn. Resources were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 1.31% followed by Industrials which gained 0.74% while Financials fell 0.25%. The Rand was trading at 8.97 and 11.98 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE -1.14%, USD 57k

Much better day in Lusaka but still nothing to excited about with value traded amounting to USD 57k thanks to a cross in ZAIN. The names that traded included CEC, ZAIN, ZMBF, ZNCO and ZSUG. ZAIN was the biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 51k. ZSUG was the second biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 1.8k.

Zimbabwe: Ind +0.62%, Mining -1.51%, USD 1.40m

The ZSE industrials rose higher in mid week trade spurred by consumer stocks Delta, OK and Innscor albeit in a lighter session. Stocks have registered an impressive start to 2013 (9.9% month to date return for industrials and 17% return for mining sector) supported by growing investor confidence following the conclusion of the outstanding issues in the draft constitution expected to pave way for peaceful elections. Gains, which were mainly in big names outpaced losers by 8 to 3. By close of trade, the industrial index was up 0.62% at 167.48points its highest in one and half years having last peaked at 167.30 on 20 June 2011. ZFN Top ten index rose 0.32% after Delta hit another all time high of 115.5c as it continues to benefit from growth in volume of sales. Activity levels however dropped sharply as volumes eased 72% to 2.85m shares while turnover declined 8% to $1.4m. On account of thin volumes, foreign participation dropped 50% to $0.619m but still account for 44% of value traded. A 5.16% drop in Rio to 55c dragged the mining index 1.51% down to 76.19points. Trades remain thin in the sector in which Falgold was unchanged at 16c while Hwange and Bindura recorded no trades.

African Currencies