Movers & Shakers: March 17, 2014

Botswana: DCI -0.67%, USD 46k

Nothing much happened today in Gaborone as only scraps traded.

Egypt: EGX +0.43%, USD 119m

The market traded on mixed sentiment today to leaving the EGX30 up +0.43% to close at 8,161.05 points. The market continues to trade average volumes, with a total turnover of USD 119m. The market started the day on negative sentiment with local investors as net sellers pushing the market to reach a low of 8,104.98 points. After 30 minutes of trading, international institutions managed to become net buyers, pushing market sentiment in the greens, targeting names such as COMI, TMGH and ESRS each ending the up 1.08%, 1.22% and 0.52% respectively. Today is COMI's record date for their EGP1.00/share dividend.ETEL took a breather today ending its recent price run, the former ended the day down -2.05%.

Kenya: NSE 20 -1.23%, USD 4.9m

It was a fairly average day in Nairobi as value traded amounted to $4.9m with locals (56.2%) dominating trading. Equity Bank shed 6.6%, losing more than the dividend yield as the bank traded for the first time after closing its books for the KES 1.50 final DPS. EABL inched just 0.4% lower after closing its books for an interim dividend – just shy of its yield. Kenya Commercial Bank closed the day unchanged as foreigners dominated activity in the counter. Local demand pushed Safcom (+0.4%) higher on 6.35m shares.

Mauritius: Semdex -0.19%, USD 2.17m

The Mauritian bourse sold off as losses in SBM (-94bps, Rs1.05), NMH (-62bps, Rs79.50) and Terra (-78bps, Rs38) drove the market lower. This was slightly offset by gains in ENL Land (+20bps, Rs49.60) and IBL (+45bps, Rs110.50). MCB was the most traded stock and ended the day unchanged at Rs215.

Nigeria: ASI -0.74%, USD 15m

A very slow day in Lagos as market conditions remain difficult. Banks are still weak as the sector lost a further 1.63% today. The main drags on the sector were GTB (-4.35%, N22.67), Fidelity (-5%, N2.07) and Skye Bank (-4.8%, N3.58) while Access was once again the outperformer as it rose by 2.5% to N7.70. Consumers fell by 46bps for the session mostly on the back on weakness in Unilever (-5%, N44.65) and Dangote Sugar (-4.1%, N9.05) although both of these were on thin volumes. Most of the action was in NB as the name slid by 34bps to N145.01. Oando saw some chunky action as the name lost 5% to N15.35.

Please note that the index figure above is correct at the time of writing.

South Africa: Top 40 +0.95%, USD 1.59bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 0.95% to close at 42,156 while value traded amounted to USD 1.59bn. Resources were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 2.00% followed by Financials and Industrials which gained 1.13% and 0.23% respectively. The Rand was trading at 10.73 and 14.95 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zimbabwe: Industrials -0.20%, Mining unch, USD 430k

The industrial Index remained mired in losses easing a further 0.2% to 186.22pts amid subdued earnings which have failed to inspire a positive trajectory. Exacerbating the losses is fresh economic data showing worsening government borrowings amid shrinking national revenues. Loans and advances to govement increased by 103% to $176m in December 2013 relative to the prior year. Private sector credit declined 2.3% to $3.56b with 84% of it being channeled towards loans and advances. Macroeconomic woes remain prevalent and the effects of such have dented corporates’ performances in the current reporting season. Dragging the index were heavies Econet, Innscor and Delta among other stocks. Delta shed 0.85% to 121c while Econet and Innscor were down 0.69% and 0.81% to 64.97c and 71.5c respectively.

African Currencies