Movers & Shakers: March 06, 2012

Botswana: DCI +0.53%, Vols USD 1.7m

The Gaborone bourse ended the day on an active note, the index was up 0.53% at 7015.95pts while turnover increased to USD 1.7m. 85% of the day's turnover was accounted for by Letshego which saw 7,030,520 shares trade 10t higher at 150t. Cresta added on 9t to 100t on thin vols. BIHL and Sefalana traded 1t higher at 1001t and 281t respectively. Turnstar rose by 2t to 130t. G4s and Choppies went against the general trend, closing 4t and 1t lower at 615t and 168t respectively.

Egypt: EGX 30 +1.58%, Vols USD 131m

The market ended the day in positive territory on descent volumes, leaving the EGX30 to close up 1.58%, ending the day at 5428.53 points. Market volumes continue to improve, market traded a total turnover of USD 131m. The session started the day with a negative sentiment to reach a low of 5301.90 points, yet after minutes of trading the market changed its sentiment to trade positively. Roles turned during the second half of the session, with local retail and local institutions turning into aggressive buyers in the market with internationals switching to being net sellers. The market is witnessed significant price run with various EGX100 stocks printing new highs for the day, the real estate sector in particularly attracting a significant share of today's trading session especially in the midst of constant M&A rumors. COMI lead the market in terms of volumes, the name ended the day up 2.69% to close at EGP25.97 on volumes of 3.5mil shares.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Sellers by 4.72 mn EGP and were 15.62% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Sellers by 29.01 mn EGP and were 76.16% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Buyers by 33.74 mn EGP and were 8.22% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Buyers by 23.10 mn EGP and were 31.50% of the market.
•  Retail were net Sellers by 23.10 mn EGP and were 68.49% of the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 +0.6%, Vols USD 2.3m

Equity turnover fell 49% on reduced trading on some of the large caps. Foreign investors remained active but to a lesser extent, accounting for 32% of equity volumes. The market recorded trades in 46 counters, 24 climbers, 14 laggards while the rest were unchanged. Co-op Bank edged up +7.9% to Kes 12.98. KCB was up 1.1% to Kes 22.54. Equity traded 1.6% higher at Kes 19.42. Please note that the Monetary Policy Committee met during the day and held the benchmark Central Bank Rate unchanged at 18%.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.11%, Vols USD 970k

The market ended the day marginally higher with the Semdex up 0.11% and the Sem-7 up 0.09% to reach 1780.43pts and 333.81pts respectively. MCB increased by 0.61% to Rs164. SBM witnessed several crosses today. 105,200 shares traded in the name with the price closing 0.64% lower at Rs78. Hotel stocks ended the day at previous levels. On the Dem side, the index edged up 0.1% to 145.43pts.

Nigeria: ASI +0.20%, Vols USD 18.51m

The NSE ASI gained 0.20% while value traded amounted to USD 18.51m. Top traded stocks were UBA, Fidelity Bank, Access Bank, GTB, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance, First Bank, Transcorp, AIICO Insurance, Zenith Bank and Law Union and Rock Insurance. Top losers of the day were Sterling Bank (-4.90%), Union Bank (-4.87%), UBA (-4.81%), May & Baker (-4.73%) and UPL Plc (-4.55%). The gainers were led by Airline Services and Logistics (4.97%), Forte Oil (4.95%), Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (4.92%), Cadbury (4.91%) and Eterna Oil (4.89%). The banking sector index closed down 185bps. First Bank closed down 2.93% at N11.25 and traded 19.9m units while Access Bank also closed down 3.95% at N7.30 while trading 54.9m units. Zenith Bank closed down 1.23% at N13.65 while trading 15.07m units. The sector also had crosses of 31m units of UBA, 54.7m units of Fidelity Bank, 45.8m units of Access Bank, 11.6m units of First Bank, 6.6m units of Zenith Bank and 5.2m units of Unity Bank. In the building materials sector, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria closed up 4.92% at N5.12 and traded 249k units while Ashaka Cement also closed up 1.42% at N10.72 and traded 305k units in total. Dangote Cement closed up 4.88% at N113.80 and traded 4.18m units. In the food and beverages sector, Nigerian Breweries closed up 1.48% at N94.90 and traded 2.8m units in total while Dangote Sugar closed up 1.87% at N3.82 and traded 1.2m units. Cadbury closed up 4.91% at N9.62 and traded 164k units in total. There were also crosses of 20m units of Consolidated Hallmark Insurance, 5.5m units of Transcorp, 13.5m units of AIICO Insurance, 9.8m units of Law Union and Rock Insurance and 2m units of HIS Plc.

South Africa: Top 40 -2.07%, Vols USD 1.70bn

The JSE followed world markets lower with the Top 40 Index falling 2.07% to close at 29,612 while value traded amounted to USD 1.70bn. Resources were the day's biggest losers with the Index falling 2.62% followed by Financial's and Industrials which fell 2.17% and 1.46% respectively. The Rand was trading at 7.64 and 10.01 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE +0.94%, Vols USD 1.35m

The market recorded a turnover of USD 1,351,898. The names that traded included ZMBF, ZSUG, CECZ, ZNCO, PUMA, SCBL, CCHZ, BATZ and INVE. ZMBF was the biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 1.19m. ZSUG was the second biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 143k.

Zimbabwe: Industrials -0.42%, Mining Unch, Vols USD 830k

The Industrial index closed the day -0.42% lower at 143.19pts weighed down by losses in Seedco, Barclays and AICO. Seedco recorded its second consecutive loss easing -1.90% or 2c to 103c with no notable takers, Barclays and AICO eased -5% apiece to 4.18c and 19c. Losers at 11 outnumbered gainers at 9 as the bearish mode persists. Volumes traded dropped to 3.5m shares from yesterday’s 9.8m units as turnover declined 31.4% to $830,826 from $1.2m. Financial group, CBZ was the most heavily traded stock after 736k units exchanged hands at an improved price of 7c. CBZ recovered 7.69% to 7c but remains net sellers at the same level while significant buyers are putting bids at 6.5c. Delta and Econet were steady at 70c and 390c respectively while Innscor rose +1.665 to 61.1c. Notable volumes were traded in Econet (92,015), DZL (369,930) and Truworths (281,956). Trades were split 50-50% between foreign purchase and local purchases, foreign sales were lower at 14% of total turnover while net foreign participation was $298,232. The resources sector was flat at 94.47pts. Rio was steady at 50c and was the only mining stock to record at trade. Hwange and Falgold was bid at 28c and 10c respectively while Bindura bid and offer at 1.5c and 3c respectively.