Movers & Shakers: March 20, 2013

Botswana: DCI +0.09%, USD 168k

Better day in Gaborone with value traded amounting to USD 168k thanks to some activity in the likes of Sefalan and Turnstar while market breadth was rather thin. The market closed the day higher with the DCI gaining 0.09% to close at 8,159.30.

Egypt: EGX -1.55%, USD 33m

The market witnessed notable selling today lead by institutional investors (GCC and international), leaving the EGX30 to end the day down 1.55% to close at 5317.63 points. Market volumes remains very weak yet with a slight improvement to recent turnovers, the market traded a total turnover of USD 33m. The market witnessed notable profit booking lead mainly from international and GCC institutions targeting names such as HRHO, CCAP and OCDI, each ending the day down 3.00%, 2.30% and 3.17% respectively, this was mainly attributed to the ongoing political distress creating a general worry about the ongoing economical woes on Egypt.Its worth mentioning that local retail investors continue to be cautious buyers in the market.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Sellers by 11.88 mn EGP and were 33.51% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Buyers by 14.65 mn EGP and were 59.90% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Sellers by 2.77 mn EGP and were 6.59% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Sellers by 11.74 mn EGP and were 40.43% of the market.
•  Retail were net Buyers by 11.74 mn EGP and were 59.56% of the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.05%, USD 4.6m

Equity turnover fell 46.1%, with foreign investors dominating trading accounting for 53% of trades compared with 46% yesterday. Equity Bank was the day’s top mover accounting for 17% of volumes. The counter gained 1.7% to KES 30.25 supported by strong investor demand. Safaricom was also fairly active accounting for 16% of trades, with foreign investors providing a majority of the supply on the counter. Of the other top movers, foreign investors were net buyers in EABL and net sellers in ARM and BAT. Despite foreign selling, ARM climbed 1.5% to KES 68. The cement firm announced FY12 performance figures at the close of trading posting an 8% y/y rise in EPS to KES 2.51 (DPS +25% to KES 0.50). Liberty Insurance extended its gains climbing 4.9% to KES 9.60, while CIC Insurance and CFC Stanbic reversed previous gains on profit taking easing 4.5% and 5.2% to KES 5.35 and KES 54.50 respectively. Nation Media witnessed high investor demand today, touching a high of KES 297 during the session though closing lower at KES 286, 1.4% higher than the previous session. The media group released its FY12 earnings figures today posting a 25% y/y climb in EPS to KES 15.9 and announcing a KES 7.5 final dividend (KES 2.5 interim) and a one for five bonus issue.

Mauritius: Semdex -0.26%, USD 1.36m

A rather quiet day as both the Semdex and the Sem-7 ended the day slightly lower. In the Sem-7, Bramer Banking dragged the index down by closing -6.32% at rs8.00 while MCB had a second soft day closing down 52bps at Rs193. Terra gained 63bps to close at Rs39.80. MCB was by far the most active name on the day.

Nigeria: ASI -0.28%, USD 20.63m

Slightly better day in Lagos with value traded amounting to $20.63m but it must be said that activity still felt rather sluggish as trade was dominated by a few block trades. The Banking sector came under a bit of selling pressure with the Bank10 Index falling 0.34% driven lower by the likes of Fidelity (-2.00%) and Zenith (-1.15%). ETI and Guaranty Trust Bank drove activity thanks to a few large crosses in the counters with foreigners prevelant. Consumer stocks also ended the day lower with the Consumer Goods Index falling 0.37% thanks to the likes of Cadbury (-2.79%) and Nestle (-0.95%) coming under pressure.

South Africa: Top 40 -0.07%, USD 2.98bn

The JSE ended the day lower with the Top 40 Index falling 0.07% to close at 35,786 while value traded amounted to USD 2.98bn. Resources were the day's biggest losers with the Index falling 1.01% while Industrials and Financials gained 0.49% and 0.19% respectively. The Rand was trading at 9.27 and 11.99 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE +2.98%, USD 35k

Better day in Lusaka but still nothing to write home about with value traded amounting to USD 35k. SCBL was the only real contributor towards any form of activity with USD 23k worth traded in the name.

Zimbabwe: Industrials +0.38%, Mining unch, USD 1.08m

The ZSE mainstream index snapped a two-day losing streak closing higher in mid-week trades spurred by an impressive recovery in AICO and positive trading in DZL ahead of December finals out later in the afternoon. The industrial index gained 0.70 points (0.38%) to close at 185.91 points. AICO rose 46.34% to close at 6c, cable manufacturer, CAFCA picked 50% to 45c albeit on thin volume, DZL rose a modest 1.725 to 29.50c as Zimplow added 12.50% to 4.5c. Other notable risers were Larfage up 11.11% to 90c, TSL up 2.78% to 18.5c and Edgars which rose 2.83% to 12.7c. Bank holding group, FBCH were steady at 8c while subsidiary Turnal was unchanged at 5.5c ahead of analyst briefing this afternoon. Fidelity was flat at 13c as the market remained lukewarm to finals released yesterday. Value traded declined 16% to $1.08m due to 84% decline in foreign purchases at $0.104m while foreign sales were almost unchanged at $0.385m. The mining index was flat at 64.79 points as Bindura, Falgold and Rio were unchanged at previous trading levels while Hwange was bid lower at 11c.

African Currencies