Movers & Shakers: July 30, 2012

African Currencies as at GMT 15:30

Botswana: DCI -0.04%, USD 10k

Another quiet session on Botswana today with only 5 shares reading and just over $10k worth passing through the exchange. There was only 1 share that changed price, NAP -1t to 218t.

Egypt: EGX 30 +0.15%, USD 56m

The market managed to end the day in positive territory, leaving the EGX30 to end the day up 0.15% to close at 4765.88 points. Volumes were within recent market average turnover, market traded a total turnover of USD 56m, it worth mentioning that OCIC witnessed a notable cross attributing for about 20% of the total turnover today. Volatility continued throughout the day today in Egyptian blue-chips as institutional investors (international) continue to be net sellers in the market, yet GCC institutions and local institutional investors supported the market end the day as net-buyers. Local retail investors continues their bullish buying streak in OTMT lifting the stock 5.66% on decent volume. The stock is leading the market in terms of value and volume accounting for approx 22% of total turnover.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Buyers by 32.70 mn EGP and were 32.04% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Sellers by 19.52 mn EGP and were 62.15% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Buyers by 13.17 mn EGP and were 5.81% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Sellers by 18.84 mn EGP and were 38.55% of the market.
•  Retail were net Buyers by 18.84 mn EGP and were 61.44% of the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.42%, USD 3.83m

Average day in Nairobi with value traded amounting to $3.83m. BATK was rather active as foreigners got involved in the counter (56% of purchases) as a total of 180k shares traded. Athi River Mining was also rather active as foreigners accounted for all of the purchases in the name as a total of 320k shares changed hands throughout the day. Activity in Safcom slowed down ever so slightly as 11.09m shares traded as foreigners continued to dominate both sides of the counter (98% of purchases and 96% of sales). Foreigners were net buyers and accounted for $2.28m of total purchases while they accounted for $940k of total sales. The market closed lower with the NSE 20 Index falling 0.42% to close at 3,854.25.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.26%, USD 3m

The activity levels in Mauritius picked up significantly today with the market making a +0.26% gain at the same time. NMH contributed 85% of the total activity. There were significant crosses that went through in the name on both boards. The name managed to close +0.75% higher, while MCB added +0.6% and SBM added +0.61%. There were no price fallers from the Sem-7.

Nigeria: ASI +0.04%, USD 8.19m

The market traded sideways all day today, eventually closing +4bps higher – a lack of conviction and interest is evident. 18 stocks advanced, 24 declined and 51 remained unchanged. The highest value of trades were in FBN, Zenith, NB and Nestle. The top tier banks struggled a bit FBN -0.44%, UBA -0.23% and Access -1.32%. ETI, FCMB and Cadbury released results today but this was not enough to spur the market activity. ETi closed -0.97% lower, FCMB closed +2.81% higher while Cadbury eased -1.35%. The cements were trading higher earlier on in the session, specifically DangC, but ended up closing flat.

South Africa: Top 40 +0.88%, USD 1.29bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 0.88% to close at 30,775 while value traded amounted to USD 1.29bn. Resources were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 1.54% followed by Financials and Industrials which gained 0.77% and 0.29% respectively. The Rand was trading at 8.20 and 10.05 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE -0.04%, USD 593k

Another good day in Zambia with value traded amounting to USD 593k thanks to a cross in ZSUG. The names that traded included CECZ, NATB, SCBL, ZMBF and ZSUG. ZSUG was the biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 583k. NATB was the second biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 8k.

Zimbabwe: Industrial Index -0.04%, Mining +1.32%, USD 980k

The industrial index opened the week softer weighed down by losses in M&R, OK and Seedco while the mining index extended gains on Rio gains. The industrial index slipped a marginal 0.04%. M&R and SEEDCO pared 1c apiece to trade at 4c and 83c respectively. Retail giant OK was 0.09% weaker at 11.51c while TRUWORTHS lost 7.50% to 3.7c. Property group, Pearl rose 2.22% to 2.76c. Dawn and African Sun advanced 3.03% to 0.7c and 0.68c. Trading volumes dropped 38.8% to 4.4m shares as turnover dropped below the $1m mark at $984,871. Foreign participation accounted for the bulk of the trades both the buying and selling front. Foreign purchases mainly in Delta, accounted for 72% of the turnover while sales (Delta, Seedco and Barclays) totaled 67.8% of turnover. The mining index gained 1.32% to close at 112.65points spurred by Rio which advanced 5.26% to top at 60c. Bindura however dropped 3.23% to 3c. Gold producer, FALGOLD seems to be running out of steam after turning into sellers at 35c with a distant bid at 20c and no trades. HWANGE was unchanged at 23c.