Movers & Shakers: March 18, 2013

Botswana: DCI +0.18%, USD 204k

Some action in Sefalana about the only real trading activity in Gaborone today as the name accounted for the bulk of today’s volume with the name closing at 430t. Some small volumes went through in Barclays and BIHL while just scraps traded in a few other counters.

Egypt: EGX -0.23%, USD 38m

The market traded with a mixed sentiment today to end the day in negative territory, leaving the EGX30 to end the day down 0.23% to close 5197.07 points. The market continues to trade very weak volumes compared to average turnover, the market traded a total turnover of USD 38m. The market witnessed notable selling at open to reach a low of 5127.12 points almost 1.65% down, this was mainly attributed to the news that an Egyptian court froze the accounts of 21 businessmen for stock market manipulation (Al Watany Bank case) including two well known Saudi investors adding to this clashes continuing to erupt between opposition and security forces in-front of the MB's HQ, yet after med- session a slight shift in sentiment was quite evident with OCIC taking the lead on the back of ongoing market chatter that the company settled or reached a positive outcome with the Tax authority.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Sellers by 17.97 mn EGP and were 31.06% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Buyers by 14.25 mn EGP and were 62.47% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Buyers by 3.72 mn EGP and were 6.47% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Sellers by 12.11 mn EGP and were 41.06% of the market.
•  Retail were net Buyers by 12.11 mn EGP and were 58.93% of the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.99%, USD 4.0m

The equities market started the week on a low note extending losses made last week, with the NSE 20 index easing 0.99% to 4,727.04 points. Equity turnover fell 29% with foreign investors dominating trading accounting for 70% of trades. Buoyed by continued strong foreign interest, EABL was the day’s top mover accounting for 37% of volumes. Safaricom (-2.4%) was also actively traded accounting for 32% of trades with foreign investors actively trading on both sides of the counter. The other top movers comprised of banking counters, KCB, DTB (-0.7%), Equity (-3.3%), Co-op (-0.3%), Stanchart (-0.3%), which were largely traded by local investors. CIC Insurance led the top gainers list climbing 6.1% to KES 5.25, recouping losses made in the previous session ahead of FY12 earnings announcement. Other underwriters also witnessed some recovery with Pan Africa, Britam and Liberty gaining 2.75%, 2.45% 1.17% to KES 56, KES 8.35, KES 8.65 respectively. On the losing end Standard Group slipped 7.7% to KES 23 though on thin volumes. Uchumi reversed gains made in previous sessions easing 1.16% to KES 21.25.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.03%, USD 1.1m

Not much going on in Mauritius as the main index inched up a mere 3bps. The Sem-7 gained 7bps due to rises in MCB (+26bps, Rs195.50), SBM (+0.98%, Rs1.03) and ENL Land (+0.22%, Rs45.10) while Bramer Banking fell by 4.69% to Rs8.54. Most of the day’s activity was in the 2 big banks while the rest of the market was very quiet.

Nigeria: ASI +0.89%, USD 16.01m

A very subdued day to start the week in Lagos as just $16m changed hands. As usual, the banking sector saw the most action but performance was mixed in the Tier 1 names. UBA and Access closed up nicely while we saw small losses in ETI and Zenith. Tier 2 was also mixed with Skye and Fidelity showing pleasing gains while FCMB fell by 1.62%. NB saw big volumes as more than $2mill traded in the name although the name closed down 43bps at N166.09. Guinness fell by 3.81% to N265.01. Nestle gained 83bps to N850 on decent volumes.

South Africa: Top 40 -0.75%, USD 1.64bn

The JSE ended the day lower with the Top 40 Index falling 0.75% to close at 35,954 while value traded amounted to USD 1.64bn. Resources were the day's biggest losers with the Index falling 1.39% followed by Industrials and Financials which fell 0.56% and 0.22% respectively. The Rand was trading at 9.16 and 11.87 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE +1.87%, USD 443k

A second consecutive day of good turnover in Zambia. Today it was a chunky cross in CEC that accounted for the lion’s share of the activity while SCZ and Zanaco also saw smalls trade. The LuSE index closed up an impressive 1.87%, the second consecutive day of strong gains.

Zimbabwe: Inudsutrials -1.01%, Mining -3.63%, USD 1.25m

Stocks opened the week low ahead of a busy week on the reporting end. Trading was thinner as Zimbabweans wait for the results of the referendum undertaken last Saturday which should pave THE way for elections later this year. Volumes traded declined 53% to 2.92m shares while value traded dipped 38% to $1.25m. Trading activity was split 79:21 in favor of foreign participation. All momentum indicators were down as losers count at 14c outnumbered the two risers. The mainstream index eased 1.01% to 185.93points weighed down by big names as the ZFN top ten index lost 0.66%. Delta eased 0.16% to 122.5c, BAT dropped 0.68% from its all-time high to settle at 725c, and Innscor continue to slide easing 1.19% to 83.99c. The mining index dropped 3.63% to 64.79points after Hwange gave up 2c to a 52-week low of 14c. The recent bearish sentiment in the mining sector has seen the index wipe out its gains to just 0.51% YTD.

African Currencies