Movers & Shakers: March 26, 2013

Botswana: DCI +0.24%, USD 4.4m

Botswana came alive today as chunky trades in Letshego livened up proceedings. More than 13mill shares changed hands in the stock accounted for about 95% of the daily turnover as the name closed slightly higher at 256t. FNBB, Choppies, BIHL and ABCH saw modest trades going through.

Egypt: EGX 30 -1.95%, USD 33m

The market continued with its bearish sentiment today lead by notable selling form international and local institutional investors, leaving the EGX30 down 1.95% to close at 5,129.09 points. The market continues to trade very weak volumes compared to average turnover, the market traded a total turnover of USD 33m. The market witnessed notable selling this was mainly attributed to the news that the tax authority will tax other parties other than Soc Gen on the NSGB deal, this created a sense of panic in the market given the timing of the announcement was a surprise for investors as the MTO to buy 100% NSGB expired yesterday and over 97% of bank’s outstanding shares were offered there, names such as PHDC, OCIC, and TMGH witnessed notable selling each ending the day down 2.84%, 2.81% and 2.08% respectively.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Sellers by 20.62 mn EGP and were 30.48% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Buyers by 9.29 mn EGP and were 63.78% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Buyers by 11.32 mn EGP and were 5.74% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Sellers by 16.19 mn EGP and were 39.32% of the market.
•  Retail were net Buyers by 16.19 mn EGP and were 60.67% of the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 +0.54%, USD 5.1m

Equity turnover fell 42.3% as block trades reduced. Foreign investor activity accounted for 48.9% of trades compared to 43% in the previous session. BAT Kenya was the largest mover of the day, up 1.7% on foreign investor trading ahead of books closure for dividend on 29 March 2013, this week. National Bank fell a further 4.4% after a 10% decline in the previous session which followed disappointing FY12 results. Access Kenya had some supply coming in as investors came in to book profits, leading the ISP just 2.7% higher after a robust performance in the last three trading sessions. Total Kenya eased 1.4% after the oil marketer issued a profit warning ahead of FY12 numbers. KenolKobil had a relief rally, notching 3% higher after days of weakening. Both oil marketers are now expected to deliver weak FY12 numbers due in a week. BOC Gases released FY12 results at the close of trading with a 31.1% jump in net profits. The gas maker was unchanged for the day, and on thin volumes.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.43%, USD 2.16m

A bounce back in the Semdex as well as turnover in Mauritius today. Most of the Sem-7 were positive except for Alteo which closed down 14bps at Rs34.70. The outperformers were SBM (+98bps, Rs1.03), NMH (+1.39%, Rs73), ENL Land (+89bps, Rs45.50) and Terra (+25bps, Rs39.60) while MCB closed the day unchanged at Rs191.50.

Nigeria: ASI -0.11%, USD 23.6m

A large cross in Cadbury the only real excitement in an otherwise quiet day. More than $5.6m changed hands in Cadbury as the name closed up 4.84% at N34.85. The rest of the consumers were mixed with Dangsuga (+1.72%, N8.30) and Nestle (+6.51%, N916) the main outperformers while Guinness and NB both fell marginally by 75bps and 1bp to N263.01 and N163.03 respectively. Banks were also mixed with the BNK10 closing up a modest 6bps with no real outliers on the positive or negative side.

South Africa: Top 40 +0.61%, USD 1.61bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 0.61% to close at 35,631 while value traded amounted to USD 1.61bn. Financials were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 0.76% followed by Industrials and Resources which gained 0.59% and 0.45% respectively. The Rand was trading at 9.24 and 11.89 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE -1.93%, USD 312k

A much more active day in Zambia as Farmers House saw a bit of activity although names were soft across the board. Some of these losers included CEC (-1.23%), Farmers House (-3.33%), SCZ (-83bps), ZAIN (-5.97%) and Zanaco (-3.85%).

Zimbabwe: Ind -1.05%, Mining -3.58%, USD 930k

The ZSE fell on Tuesday over concerns about election dates as the principals to the inclusive government are yet to agree on a timeline. Concerns over the political environment in the period leading to the elections have further been raised by the recent arrest of human rights lawyers last weekend. The industrial index lost 1.05%, its third consecutive loss, to 182.14points on losses in Delta and DZL despite gains outpacing losers by 10 to 5. Value traded dropped 32% to $0.93m due to limited foreign participation and low volumes in big names. Foreign buying declined 24% to $0.635m while sales declined 43% to $0.412m. The mining index lost 2.37 points (3.58%) to close at 63.87 points weighed down by a 26% loss in Falgold to 11.10c. Bindura was steady at 2.53c while HWANGE and RIOZIM recorded no trades.

African Currencies