Movers & Shakers: March 15, 2013

Botswana: DCI +0.61%, USD 176k

Better day in Gaborone with value traded amounting to USD 176k thanks to some activity in Letshego, while market breadth also improved slightly. The market closed the day higher with the DCI gaining 0.61% to close at 8,127.50.

Egypt: Market closed for the day.

Kenya: NSE 20 -1.19%, USD 5.6m

The equities market fell for the third straight day, taking back most of the large gains made at the beginning of the week. Turnover declined 31.9% while most of the leading gainers were on a decline through a combination dampened demand at high prices and profit taking. Equity Bank was the leading mover on foreign investor trading, accounting for 48% of activity. Jubilee Insurance was the leading loser on thin volumes ahead of FY12 results due from the composite insurer. TranCentury, infrastructure focused company, surged 7%, buoyed by some foreign investor buying ahead of FY12 numbers. Stockport Exploration completed a USD 500,000 private placement to Kenyan investors. TranCentury’s chairman is now the Kenyan representative in the board. Carbacid, industrial gas maker, climbed 5.8% after announcing robust 1H13 numbers; boosted by higher finance income, lower exchange losses and fair value gains on equity investments.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.0.5%, USD 1.22m

Rather slow day in Mauritius today as market breadth was rather dissapointing with value traded amounting to USD 1.22m. MCB accounted for the bulk of today's trade with foreigners still purchasing the stock as a total of 110k shares traded with the counter closing at 195.00. SBM was quiet with 1.29m shares traded as the name closed flat at 1.02.

Nigeria: ASI -0.78%, USD 28.88m

A solid day to close off the week in Lagos with value traded amounting to $28.88m. Frustrating day for foreigners however has market visibility was hampered mid-way through the session as the bloomberg feed to the exchange went down. Banks fell for a second day as the Bank10 Index came under pressure, falling 1.97% largely as a result of Access falling by a rather severe 8.85% to close at 10.20 as forecasts show that pretax profit for the second quarter is to be 26% lower. Consumer stocks also came under a bit of pressure with the Consumer Goods Index falling 0.62%. Nigerian Breweries managed to bounce and close at 166.80 after going ex-div yesterday. ETI was extremely active today thanks to a few large crosses in the counter and lead in terms of value traded.

South Africa: Top 40 -0.40%, USD 3.42bn

The JSE ended the day lower with the Top 40 Index falling 0.40% to close at 36,226 while value traded amounted to USD 3.42bn. Financials were the day's biggest losers with the Index falling 0.98% followed by Industrials which fell 0.61% while Resources gained 0.59%. The Rand was trading at 9.19 and 12.00 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE +1.35%, USD 508k

Much better day in Lusaka with value traded amounting to USD 508k thanks to a cross in ZSUG. The names that traded included CEC, REIZ, SCZ, ZAIN, ZMBF, ZSUG and ZNCO. ZSUG was the biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 490k. CEC was the second biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 7.6k.

Zimbabwe: Inudsutrials +1.41%, Mining unch, USD 2.01m

Stocks traded higher on Friday snapping a week long decline helped by gains in Econet, DZL and OK. The industrial index rose 1.41% or 2.25points to close the week at 187.46points yet the Friday gains were not enough to offset the previous losses as the mainstream index eased 1.83% week-on-week. Telecoms giant Econet recovered an impressive 6.72% to 65.1c and was once gain the most actively traded stock after 1.7m units exchanged hands. Retail stocks dominated gains after OK rose 10.27% to 20.4c on solid buying while clothing retail Edgars picked 6% to an all-time high of 12.19c spurred by recently released financial numbers to December. DZL recovered 1.75% to 29c. Lightweight stocks Pelhams, Pioneer and Phoenix led the gains putting 900%, 100% and 66.67% to 1c, 1c and 0.5c respectively. Big names Delta, Old Mutual and Innscor closed unchanged at previous levels while CBZ and Barclays recorded no trades. Volumes traded declined 38% to 6.27m shares while value traded declined by just 5.22% to $2.01m supported by trades in high value stocks Econet, Delta, Innscor, DZL and OK. Foreign participation was predominantly purchases amounting to $1.8m (86%) while sales were a paltry $0.157m. The mining index was unchanged at 67.23 points after Bindura and Falgold traded unchanged. Week on week the mining index was down 2.85 points (4.07%).

African Currencies