Movers & Shakers: January 23, 2014

Botswana: DCI +0.34%, USD 108k

Not much on the go in Gaborone as value traded amounted to USD 108k as Choppies (116k shares) dominated turnover.

Egypt: EGX 30 +0.75%, USD 112m

It was another green day for the Egyptian market as the EGX30 ended the day up 0.75% to close at 7,233.38 points. Market volumes improved compared to recant turnovers, with shares worth EGP781 million changing hands. Institutional investors managed to keep up the bullish momentum, targeting names like TMGH, GTHE, and EAST, each ending the day up 2.31%, 1.80%, and 1.02% respectively. Local retail continue to be net sellers, targeting names such as WATP, ESRS, and COMI, leaving each to end the day down 1.16%, 0.49%, and 0.72%, respectively.

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.55%, USD 11.9m

Trading activity increased on the back of increased foreign participation. Foreign action was skewed to the sell side and most of this activity centered in EABL, Equity Bank and KNCB. EABL shed a small amount to close at KES 284 while Equity Bank also slipped further to KES 32.25. KNCB remains resilient and ended the day unchanged at KES 45.50. Safcom continues to have strong buying interest and rose by an additional 40bps to KES 12.05.

Mauritius: Semdex -0.30%, USD 3.03m

The Port Louis based bourse had another barn-storming day in terms of activity as more than $3m changed hands. Almost the entire volume took place in MCB which closed at Rs214. The index fell by 30bps with losses recorded in NMH (-1.92%, Rs89.50) and Terra (-53bps, Rs37.80).

Nigeria: ASI +1.18%, USD 24.4m

There was a complete turnaround in banking stocks today after yesterday's sell-off with the Index gaining +2.42%. Zenith (+4.72%), Access (+4.11%) and First Bank (+3.11%) were the star performers as investors looked to pick up the names cheaply. Consumers (+ 0.37%) closed slightly higher thanks to the likes of Nestle (+3.02%) as there was an aggressive buyer right at the close while Unilever (+2.53%) also had a good day. There was firm demand in the cements as WAPCO (+3.45%) and DangCem (+0.87%) closed firmer. It was a fairly average day in terms of activity as value traded amounted to $24.4m with First Bank ($4.23m), Zenith ($2.74m), Guinness ($2.33m) and Nigerian Breweries ($2.13m) driving activity.

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

South Africa: Top 40 +0.12%, USD 1.56bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 0.12% to close at 42,313 while value traded amounted to USD 1.56bn. Resources were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 1.67% while Financials and Industrials fell 0.68% and 0.47% respectively. The Rand was trading at 10.96 and 15.02 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zimbabwe: Industrials -1.22%, Mining -0.51%, USD 2.63m

More selling in heavyweights Delta and Econet dragged the main ZSE index down by 1.22%. Delta lost a disappointing 1.61% to 138c while Econet lost a whopping 3.2% to 59.99c as an aggressive seller hit the name hard. The broader market was also soft as other larger cap names like Natfoods, OKZim, Old Mutual and Hippo also lost ground. The bulk of the trading activity today was by local participants.

African Currencies