Movers & Shakers: March 05, 2013

Botswana: DCI unch, USD 59k

The peripheral African markets continue to dry up as Gaborone still remains dead. Sefalana was the top trader on the day, although that is not saying much considering the lack of activity across the entire market.

Egypt: EGX 30 -2.49%, USD 43m

The market managed to continue with its bearish sentiment lead by notable selling for International and GCC institutional investors, leaving the EGX30 to end the day down 2.49% to close at 5,241.20 points. The market continues to trade weak volumes yet after volumes slightly improving yesterday, the market traded a total turnover of USD 43m. With the ongoing clashes in Cairo and several Egyptian cities alongside the rising tension on the political front adding to this the negative news regarding the travel ban on OCI CEO, the market continued to bleed with names such as COMI, ORTE and HRHO witnessing aggressive selling, each ending the day down 4.61%, 3.73% and 2.25% respectively. JUFO managed to buck the general sentiment to end the day in the greens lead by notable institutional buying, the former ended the day up 2.75% on decent volumes.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Sellers by 33.90 mn EGP and were 24.22% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Buyers by 37.61 mn EGP and were 66.31% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Buyers by 3.71 mn EGP and were 9.47% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Buyers by 1.76 mn EGP and were 42.52% of the market.
•  Retail were net Sellers by 1.76 mn EGP and were 57.47% of the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 +0.52%, USD 4.0m

The market reopened after elections yesterday which were seemingly peaceful as there have been no major reports of any violence other than what took place on Sunday. The latest indications that we have seen is that Uhuru has 53.64% of the vote with Raila in second place with 41.85%. Activity slowed down as was expected with value traded amounting to $4.0m. Trading today was primarily driven by the blue chips Safaricom, BAT Kenya and KCB Bank, cumulatively accounting for 72.7% of turnover. Locals dominated activity (70.1%) as foreigners remain tentative ahead of the results.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.44%, USD 880k

A very quiet day in the Indian Ocean island as less than $1mill changed hands while the index ticked up higher. In the Sem-7 only 4 stocks changed from the day before and all 4 of them gained: MCB (+67bps, Rs186.50), NMH (+3.42%, Rs75.50), Alteo Limited (+29bps, Rs34.70) and Terra (+13bps, Rs39.60). Air Mauritius fell by 3.69% at settled at Rs13.70.

Nigeria: ASI -0.49%, USD 25.21m

After a quiet start in the session the activity picked up as the day progressed although the index slipped by 49bps. The banks found renewed buying interest, particularly in the Tier 1 segment as all these names closed in the green, led by Zenith (+2.82%, N21.49). GTB enjoyed some chunky crosses at N25 which is where the name closed (+40bps). The consumer names were mixed with the bulk of the activity going through in NB (+15bps, N162) and Guinness (-1.85%, N265). Cadbury closed down 4.23% at N34 while Dangcem closed down 2.76% at N141 on decent volume.

South Africa: Top 40 +1.97%, USD 1.62bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 1.97% to close at 36,064 while value traded amounted to USD 1.62bn. Financials were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 1.95% followed by Resources and Industrials which gained 1.87% and 1.76% respectively. The Rand was trading at 9.05 and 11.79 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE +0.35%, USD 22k

Not surprisingly another dead day in Lusaka as investors continue to lose interest in participating in the market. Just $22k changed hands while the index increased by 35bps. Nothing of note happened in the market.

Zimbabwe: Inudsutrials +0.63%, Mining -0.44%, USD 2.02m

The ZSE firmed further by close of call today putting on +0.63% to 188.86pts on firming local demand. The value of trades at $2.02m was down by a marginal 1.5% with the liquidity largely coming from local investors accounting for an estimated 94% of the traded value for the day. Foreign participation was however in a net outflow position on profit taking in telecoms group Econet. Activity was fairly spread across the bourse with the number of active stocks registering an impressive thirty one stocks compared to just nineteen yesterday. Econet accounting for 59% of the value today was the most sought after stock for the second day running in the ensuing week. A 10% retreat in RIOZIM to 45c offset a 15% gain in Falgold to see the resources index fall -0.44% to 68.15pts. There were no trades in the other two mining stocks.

African Currencies