Movers & Shakers: March 22, 2013

Botswana: DCI +2.01%, USD 863k

Some big volumes in Letshego and FNBB pumping up the volumes today in Gaborone. Letshego continues to trend higher and closed today up at 255t while FNBB also closed up at 330t. Choppies and Sechaba also saw some activity while only muted activity was noted on some other stocks.

Egypt: Closed

Kenya: NSE 20 +0.11%, USD 4.3m

Equity turnover fell 25.5%, with local investors dominating trading accounting for 67.3% of trades (up from 59% in the previous session). AccessKenya hit the maximum 10% session price limit as demand outweighed supply. Speculative interest on the counter has built up in the last two sessions after management commented about being open to a potential takeover ‘at the right price’. Nation Media was the leading mover accounting for 20% of the market with foreign investors accounting for 50.9% of purchases on the counter. The media firm notched 5.9% higher to KES 321 after it declared robust FY12 numbers during mid week. Standard Group benefited from the positive sentiment on the sector climbed 7.6% higher on the day ahead of its FY12 numbers. Marketing services firm, Scangroup, edged 1.2% higher but investors had less interest on it. Most of the large movers of the day were unchanged except for Safaricom which inched 0.9% lower to KES 5.80 on foreign investor selling.

Mauritius: Semdex -0.32%, USD 980k

Very muted activity in Port Louis as the indices also fell marginally. The banks dragged down the Sem-7 with MCB down 52bps (Rs192) and SBM down 97bps to Rs1.02. The rest of the Sem-7 names were unchanged. Air Mauritius fell by 1.43% to Rs13.80.

Nigeria: ASI +0.44%, USD 19.28m

A very inactive day yet again in Lagos with a couple of blocks spiking up turnover while the index closed up 44bps for the day. The banks took a hit (BNK10 -1.12%) with UBA (-6.10%, N8.01) and Access (-10.16, N10.16) the worst affected in the sector. The consumers were mixed. The most active names were NB (+2bps, N163.07) and Nestle (-1.15%, N860) while Cadbury gained 2.19% (N34.95) and PZ dipped -2.47% (N39.50). The rest of the market was rather dull.

South Africa: Top 40 -0.82%, USD 1.62bn

The JSE lost ground today with the Industrials the biggest drag on the market. At the time of writing, the rand continues to weaken, trading at R9.33, R12.12 and R14.20 v the USD, EUR and GBP respectively.

Zambia: LuSE +0.35%, USD 287k

Lusaka activity spiked to $287k thanks to a cross in the normally very illiquid Farmers House which accounted for almost 100% of the activities. Outside of this the market was dead as usual.

Zimbabwe: Ind -0.38%, Mining -1.40%, USD 2.33m

ZSE stocks traded lower in Friday as the equities market react to mixed December numbers. The industrial index dropped 0.38% to weighed down by DZL, Meikles, OK and Barclays. DZL eased a further 3.45% to 28c in thick trades, its second consecutive loss after releasing finals to December which were below market expectations. Meikles fell 10.87% to 20.5c albeit in thin trades, OK lost 5.26% to revert to 18c in thick volumes while Barclays lost 3.03% ahead of finals to December expected next week. TSL and TURNALL lost 0.50 cents to trade at 18 cents and 5 cents respectively. TRUST was the worst performer losing 42.86% to 0.40c as the market still awaits the materialization of recapitalization plans. On the upside, NATFOODS rose 2.86% or 5c to trade at 180 cents, Fidelity’s December financials received a nod as the stock rose 7.69% to 14c. INNSCOR rose 1.13% to 83.03c, brick maker Willdale gained 200% in rare trades while TA added 7.14% to 7.5c. Beverages giant Delta remained steady at 122c in thin trades and has been net sellers for the greater part of the week. Week on week however the industrial index lost 1.02% as it recorded just a single gain over the five day period. Value traded improved 63% to $2.33m spurred by trades in Econet, Innscor and DZL despite a 22% drop in overall volumes. Foreign purchases were flat at $0.94m while sales dropped 10% to $0.224m as local investors dominated trades. In the outlook the equities market will be shaped by more financial results for the period ending December which are expected next week as companies scramble to meet the March 31 Deadline. The mining index retreated 1.40% to close at 63.88 points widening its week on week loss to 4.95% while the YTD return have disappeared as the sector is now 1.50% in the negative. Coal miner Hwange continued to lose ground easing 21.43% to a 52-week low of 11c. Bindura however recovered 15.50% to 2.31c while Falgold and RIOZIM were unchanged at previous trading levels. Week on week the mining index lost 3.35 points (4.98%).

African Currencies