Movers & Shakers: July 31, 2012

African Currencies as at GMT 15:30

Botswana: DCI -0.11%, USD 65k

The mkt was a bit more active today with 12 of the listed counters trading. The majority of the activity was accounted for by FNBB, 80%. 2 names advanced and three declined. Engen and Letlole gained +4t and +5t to 580t and 140t respectively while ABCH -4t, NAP -1t and Turnstar -1t to 445t, 217t and 169t respectively.

Egypt: EGX 30 +2.03%, USD 68m

The market managed to end the day notably higher on above average volumes lead by local institutions and local retail investors, the EGX30 ended the day up 2.03% to close at 4,862.53 points. Volumes has improved significantly compared to recent turnovers, market traded a total turnover of USD 68m. The market managed to end the day in positive territories with local institutions and local retail investors supporting the market by being the sole net buyers today, the rally was mainly attributed to optimism towards the political road ahead of Egypt, this came after the news that the new government will be announced and sworn in next Thursday, which will definitely shed much of the uncertainty clouding the market.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Buyers by 26.74 mn EGP and were 19.79% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Sellers by 29.21 mn EGP and were 71.39% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Sellers by 2.46 mn EGP and were 8.82% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Sellers by 17.98 mn EGP and were 28.36% of the market.
•  Retail were net Buyers by 17.98 mn EGP and were 71.39% of the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.57%, USD 1.39m

Extremely quiet day in Nairobi with value traded amounting to a dire $1.39m. Athi River Mining was once again rather active with a total of 108k shares changing hands as locals accounted for all of the purchases and sales. Equity Bank was very quiet with a total of 686k shares traded as foreigners accounted for 96% of purchases. Kenya Commercial Bank was also rather quiet as 594k shares traded with locals dominating both sides of the name. Foreigners were net buyers and accounted for $410k of total purchases while they accounted for $200k of total sales. The market closed lower with the NSE 20 Index falling 0.57% to close at 3,832.42. Inflation fell for an eighth straight month in July, falling to 7.7% from 10.1% in June.

Mauritius: Semdex -0.08%, USD 1.28m

The market moved sideways on low activity levels today with the Sem-7 putting in a mixed performance, 3 stocks advanced while th1 retreated. The majority of the activity was accounted for by Terra (flat) and MCB (-0.6%). NMH, Rogers and IBL were the other names to change price gaining +0.74%, +0.98% and +0.63% respectively.

Nigeria: ASI -1.03%, USD 23.7m

The mkt opened a bit softer before slowly crawling into the black and then falling back sharply to close -103bps in the red. Market activity picked up significantly to almost reach $24m, Zenith Bank was the main contributor with almost $11m worth of the name trading at a vwap of N14.39, closing at N14.4 -0.62%. The other active names were NB, GTB and FBN. The top tier banks were mixed ETI, FBN , GTB and UBA all closed higher while Zenith and Access closed lower. Notably heavyweight DangC lost -5.00% before the scheduled release of their results tomorrow. From the conglomerates Pz lost -2.93% while Unilever advanced +2.73%.

South Africa: Top 40 -1.26%, USD 1.59bn

The JSE ended the day lower with the Top 40 Index falling 1.26% to close at 30,386 while value traded amounted to USD 1.59bn. Financials were the day's biggest losers with the Index falling 1.77% followed Industrials and Resources which fell 1.23% and 0.61% respectively. The Rand was trading at 8.21 and 10.10 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE +0.05%, USD 237k

Relatively active in Lusaka today with value traded amounintg to USD 237k thanks to crosses in the likes of CECZ, ZNCO and ZSUG. The names that traded included AELZ, INVE, LAFA, NATB, REIZ, SCBL, ZMFA, ZNCO and ZSUG. CECZ was the biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 107k. ZNCO was the second biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 93k.

Zimbabwe: Industrial Index -0.41%, Mining -0.39%, USD 2.9m

The equities market closed the month on a negative note as both indices traded in the negative ahead of the monetary policy review this afternoon. The industrial index recorded its second loss of the week easing 0.41% to 132.92c weighed down by losses in Delta which lost 0.74% to 67.50c and Meikles which dropped 0.58% to 17c while Innscor was offered 1c lower at 58c. Gains in telecom giant Econet which rose 0.12% to 428.5c and ABCH which put on 9.09% or 5c to 60c however failed to stem the market losses. The mining index finally snapped an impressive three week rally as it lost 0.39% to close the month at 112.12c after Rio Zim was offered 1c lower at 59c though there were no trades in the sector. The mining index recorded its best month for the year with a solid monthly return of 48.1% and recorded only two losses during the month. Exceptional volume in ABCH and foreign participation in Delta helped improve overall market volumes and turnover though trading activity was shallow in most stocks.