Movers & Shakers: March 06, 2013

Botswana: DCI +0.11%, USD 4k

The Botswana market continues to plumb new depths as just 4k changed hands. Worrying signs for the local market.

Egypt: EGX 30 +0.42%, USD 55m

The market managed to end the day positive territories after trading negatively for last couple of days, the EGX30 ended the day up 0.42% to close at 5,263.13 points. Market volumes remain very weak yet an improvement to recent market turnovers, the market traded a total turnover of USD 55m. The market managed to gain some positive momentum supported by local and GCC institutional targeting names such MOIL, EKHO and COMI each ending up 1.94%, 1.85% and 1.44% respectively. ESRS witnessed aggressive selling on above average volumes this comes after a Egyptian court sentenced Ahmed Ezz (ex Ezz steel CEO) to 34 years in prison, the former ended the day down 2.24%. ORTE also was one of the few names today to end in the reds, the name ended the day down 0.97% on above average volumes, this is mainly attributed to company release 4Q2012 results; reporting a net loss of USD474 million on the back of a one off impairment charge missing estimates.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Sellers by 39.63 mn EGP and were 36.83% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Buyers by 33.05 mn EGP and were 47.92% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Buyers by 3.71 mn EGP and were 15.25% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Buyers by 36.09 mn EGP and were 58.32% of the market.
•  Retail were net Sellers by 36.09 mn EGP and were 41.67% of the market

Kenya: NSE 20 +0.29%, USD 4.8m

The equities market remained resilient despite uncertainty in presidential election results which are yet to be announced. Equity turnover climbed 22.5%, with local investors dominating trading accounting for 55% of the day’s trades. The NSE 20 index gained 0.29% to close at 4,546.83 points, with 26 of the counters traded gaining, 11 declining and the rest remaining unchanged. Safaricom was the day’s top mover accounting for 34% of volumes driven by high foreign investor activity on the counter. Despite net foreign selling, the telco remained flat at KES 5.95. EABL also saw high foreign investor activity mostly on the demand side pushing the stock up 1.4% to KES 291, recouping previous session losses. Equity Bank climbed 5.3% to a new 12 month high of KES 30 on the back of strong local investor demand. Kenya Power was also up 1.15% to KES 18 on strong local investor demand. CFC Stanbic Bank was amongst the top gainers list edging up 6 .7% to close at KES 51.50, after touching a high of KES 53 during trading. The counter released its FY12 performance figures last week, posting 73.1% y/y rise in attributable profit. Insurance stocks CIC insurance and Liberty gained 5.7% and 5.6% to KES 4.65 and KES 7.50 respectively, ahead of FY12 earnings results set to be announced within the month. KenolKobil extended its losses easing 9.7% to KES 11.15 after announcing last week that its discussions with Puma energy had been terminated. The Oil marketer has issued a profit warning for its FY12 earnings indicating that it expects earnings to decline by more than 25%. Management blames the poor performance on high finance costs, price controls as well as volatile oil prices and currency.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.55%, USD 1.73m

MCB strength continues to push the Mauritian market higher as aggressive buying in the name pushed it 1.61% higher to Rs189.50. The name was also the most actively traded for the session. Bramer Banking also contributed to the outperformance closing up 2.57% at Rs7.18 while Alteo Limited was the only faller out of the Sem-7 closing down 29bps at Rs34.60.

Nigeria: ASI -0.16%, USD 22.95m

A mostly quiet day in Nigeria although a few crosses lifted turnover to a respectable $22.95m while the index fell marginally. The banks were non-committal and the BNK10 ended the day unchanged – most stocks in the sector were very slightly up or down for the day. In fact, most sectors could not make up their minds whether to go North or South, consumer names were also mixed. NB closed up a modest 31bps on big volumes while Cadbury, Dangsuga and Nestle all lost ground and Guinness ended unchanged. Dangote Flour had a strong day though and closed up 3.87% at N9.40.

South Africa: Top 40 -0.38%, USD 1.76bn

The JSE ended the day lower with the Top 40 Index falling 0.38% to close at 35,928 while value traded amounted to USD 1.76bn. Resources were the day's biggest losers with the Index falling 0.69% followed by Financials and Industrials which fell 0.26% and 0.12% respectively. The Rand was trading at 9.09 and 11.82 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE -0.18%, USD 56k

Not much going on in Lusaka today with value traded amounting to USD 56k. The names that traded included BATA, BAT, CEC, FQMZ, ZSUG and ZAIN. ZSUG was the biggest contributor towards tunover with value traded in the name amouting to USD 18k. ZAIN was the second biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 12k.

Zimbabwe: Inudsutrials +0.93%, Mining -0.04%, USD 5.31m

The ZSE saw a 158% surge in turnover to $5.31m buoyed by block trades in telecoms group Econet that accounted for an estimated 75% of the value traded today. Foreign demand in the blue chips dominated the market with an estimated $3.4m worth of foreign purchases being recorded compared to a paltry $0.12m registered yesterday. Foreign participants were however in a net sell off position taking profits in the blue chips Econet, Old Mutual and Delta that have enjoyed a sustained rally since the beginning of the current year. Industrials closed 0.93% firmer at 190.61pts buoyed by resurgent interest in financial stocks and delta. Beverages giant Delta added +1.99% to 118c while banking group CBZ added +3.7% to 14c as demand remained resilient post results. The mining index fell lightly to 68.12.

African Currencies