Movers & Shakers: July 29, 2013

Botswana: DCI -0.01%, USD 135k

Another dull day in Gaborone with only muted activity in Barclays (640t) and Sechaba (1729t) recording anything meaningful.

Egypt: EGX -0.58%, USD 24m

The market continues to trade with a mixed sentiment to end the day slightly lower, leaving the EGX30 to end the day down 0.58% to close 5,286.19 points. Market volumes were significantly low relative to recent turnovers, the market traded a total turnover of USD 24m. With the political scene is still looking uncertain and is believed to continue causing a bit of an overhang on the overall sentiment and market volumes until further clarity is shed, the market witnessed a notable slow session to continue with its profit booking sentiment lead by local retail along international institutions were names such as ESRS, JUFO and ORTE witnessed selling pressure each ending the day down 0.76%, 0.71% and 0.71% respectively. Local institutions continue to net-buyer in the market, targeting names such as EGTS, OTMT and ETEL each ending the day up 2.22%, 1.85& and 0.83% respectively.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Sellers by 4.73 mn EGP and were 13.39% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Buyers by 2.70 mn EGP and were 81.67% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Buyers by 2.03 mn EGP and were 4.94% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Buyers by 9.29 mn EGP and were 21.93% of the market.
•  Retail were net Sellers by 9.29 mn EGP and were 78.06% of the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.16%, USD 3.3m

Activity improved in Nairobi today but still nothing to write home about with value traded amounting to $3.3m while foreign participation declined to 40.7% from Friday's session. Equity Bank released H1 2013 results which saw earnings increase 16.7%. The results seemed broadly inline with investor expectations as the name closed flat at 33.50, albeit on very light volume. Safcom ended the day unchanged at 7.15 after trading higher for most of the session as some profit takers came in towards the close. On the economic front, the Cabinet Secretary for National Treasury was quoted by Bloomberg as saying that there was little room for a rate cut, possibly implying that interest rates had bottomed out.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.09%, USD 597k

Another sluggish start to the week in Mauritius as value traded amounted to USD 597k. The market however managed to close in positive territory with the Semdex gaining 0.09% thanks to gains in MCB (+0.8%) while SBM closed unchanged at 1.02. MCB also drove the market terms of turnover as 38k shares changed hands.

Nigeria: ASI +1.13%, USD 10.68m

It was a muted start to the week in Lagos with value traded amounting to a very slow $10.68m with hardly any decent crosses taking place the entire session. On a positve note the market managed to close in positive territory with the ASI gaining 1.13% thanks to a bounce in banking stocks (+1.52%) with the likes of ETI (+3.29%) and Zenith (+3.08%) driving the sector higher. Consumers (+0.68%) also managed to close in positive territory after trading lower for most of the session with 7UP (+9.21%) and Guinness (+4.78%) surging towards the close. ETI, UBA and Cadbury all released H1 2013 results during the day with investors seemingly pleased with the ETI and Cadbury results as both names ended stronger while UBA (-0.26%) ended the session slightly lower.

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

South Africa: Top 40 +0.95%, USD 1.04bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 0.95% to close at 36,368 while value traded amounted to USD 1.04bn. Resources were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 1.54% followed by Industrials and Financials which gained 0.60% and 0.39% respectively. The Rand was trading at 9.78 and 12.94 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE +0.08%, USD 161k

More excitement than the norm in Lusaka as Lafarge and CEC both saw some trading take place. Nothing much to note though and the only price mover was Puma which lost 3bps to K1.10.

Zimbabwe: Industrials +0.60%, Mining -0.14%, USD 1.47m

Industrials firmed 0.60% in week opening trades to an all time high of 231.97pts as selective demand continued to hold. Search for quality saw value of trades leaping +139% to $1.47m boosted by trades in high value stocks countering the -69% decline in volumes of the day to 4.3m. Among the gainers was BAT’s +1.64% gain to a new high of 1,425c with no sellers showing. Brewers Delta advanced +2% to end at its all time high of 150c on solid demand. This follows the company’s Q1 2014 market update showing growth of 4% and 8% on volumes and revenue respectively. Telecoms giant Econet currently rolling out its rebranded Steward Bank rose +1.5% to 68c. Retailers OK which recorded 5% revenue growth in Q1 to June 2013 was up +0.4% to 28.1c and Old Mutual put on +2.7% to a middle price of 236.1c. Firm demand saw recovery plays RTG and Masimba advancing +13.3% and +6.3% to 1.7c and 12.75c respectively. Diversified group Innscor was the single loser in industrials shedding -4.4% to 110c amid selling pressure. Minings retreated -0.14% to 65.46 pts on the back of nickel miners Bindura’s -0.4% decline to -2.44c.

African Currencies