Movers & Shakers: July 18, 2013

Botswana: DSE +0.03%, USD 1.11m

Another decent day Gaborone with value traded amounting USD 1.11m as a cross in Letshego ($509k) accounted for 45% of today's turnover. There was also a bit of action in Barclays (209k shares) and Letlole (603k shares).

Egypt: EGX 30 +0.03%, USD 47m

The market continues to trade sideways with a mixed sentiment leaving the EGX30 to end the day slightly higher (+0.03%) to close at 5,346.61 points. The market traded decent volumes relative to average turnovers, the market traded a total turnover of USD 47m, yet it’s worth mentioning that more than 26% of the total turnover was attributed to crosses in MNHD. The market started the day with a negative sentiment lead by notable selling from international and local institutions targeting names such OTMT, CCAP and ETEL each ending the day down 1.92%, 1.53% and 0.74% respectively. By med-sessions local institutions changed their trading sentiment to be net-buyers lifting the market along with local retail investors targeting names such as JUFO, TMGH and ORTE each ending the day 1.20%, 0.84% and 0.45% respectively.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Sellers by 115.27 mn EGP and were 29.09% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Buyers by 92.91 mn EGP and were 63.02% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Buyers by 22.36 mn EGP and were 7.89% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Sellers by 51.15 mn EGP and were 45.84% of the market.
•  Retail were net Buyers by 51.15 mn EGP and were 54.14% of the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 +0.45%, USD 6.6m

The equities market reversed yesterday’s losses with the NSE 20 index gaining 0.45% to a one month high of 4,800.2 points. Foreign investors were net buyers in the market, accounting for 61.5% of trades. Kenya Airways gained 2.1% to KES 9.75, following news that the government had signed a bilateral air service agreement with Nigeria, allowing the carrier to fly directly into Abuja. KCB extended its gains buoyed by strong foreign investor demand, edging up further 1.2% to KES 41.75. Mumias (+1.1% to KES 4.40) today was amongst the top movers, with foreign investors accounting for most of the demand and local investors providing supply. Safaricom was the day’s top mover accounting for 20.4% of volumes. The telco continued to witness profit taking easing 0.7% to KES 7.30.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.50%, USD 911k

There was an increase in activity today with value traded amounting to USD 911k. Activity was rather broad based with some action in most of the big names as 34k MCB traded while 5.68m SBM changed hands. MCB closed the day on the front foot with the counter gaining 1.64% to close at 186.00 while SBM closed the day unchanged. NMH closed the day unchanged as a total of 81k shares traded on the day.

Nigeria: ASI +0.95%, USD 19.08m

Despite the low volumes the bulls continue to push the Nigerian bourse higher. Both the banks (+86bps) and Consumers (+1.8%) were well bid throughout the day. Tier 1 banks again led the banking sector in terms of volume and direction. The top performers were GTB (+1.66%, N26.40) and Access (+1.35%, N11.30). In the consumers, NB released results before the session started. Despite muted results the buying was strong in the name as it eventually settled up 3.58% at N179.40 on chunky volumes. Nestle also saw a couple of crosses yet ended the session unchanged at N1000 on good volume. Unilever also released results today right at the end of the session. The name closed down 78bps at N62.00.

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

South Africa: Top 40 +0.50%, USD 1.4bn

SA tracked global markets into the green as the Top 40 closed up 50bps with all sectors closing positive. The Rand was trading at R9.91, R15.06 and R12.96 vs the USD, GBP and EUR respectively at the time of writing.

Zambia: LuSE +1.09%, USD 34k

Not much on the go in Lusaka today with value traded amounting to USD 34k. The only name worth mentioning was Zambia Sugar ($33k) as there was a cross in the counter.

Zimbabwe: Industrials -0.81%, Mining -0.80%, USD 7.82m

Finance Trust of Zimbabwe (Private) Ltd sale of its 88.5m (63.25%) shareholding in Astra at 6.213c for a consideration of $5.5m reportedly to management boosted today’s value of trades that closed at $7.82m. Normal trades of the day were dominated by heavy caps Econet with contribution of $1.06m and Delta trades valued at $0.9m. The market traded softer for the second day running as heavies Delta shed -2.03% to 145c, Econet fell -2.2% to 66.5c, National Foods shed -4.4% to 220c, OK eased a marginal -0.04% to 27c and Barclays dropped -1.3% to 6.20c. On the back of these losses the industrial index retreated -0.81% to 224.37pts. Similarly minings slid -0.80% to 66.93 points on the back of BINDURA’s -2.4% slump to 2.44c despite the nickel miner’s update that it is pursuing short-term financing strategies to turnaround its fortunes.

African Currencies