Movers & Shakers: March 16, 2012

Botswana: DCI +0.03%, Vols USD 133k

A bit more activity in Gaborone today with value traded amounting to USD 133k thanks to a cross in Letshego which saw 516k shares exchange hands at 150t. The market ended the day slightly higher with the DCI gaining 0.03% to close at 7,059.24. Cresta was the name only to trade higher on the dat (107, +5t) while there were no names that traded lower. Unfortunately it was rather dull on the news front in Botswana today.

Egypt: EGX 30 +1.55%, Vols USD 82m

Closed for the day

Ghana: Vols USD 246k

Definite uptick in volume today with value traded amounting to USD 264k thanks to crosses in FML, GCB and SIC. GCb was the biggest contributor towards value traded (54.87%) with the name closing at 1.85. FML was the second biggest contributor towards value traded (15.43%) with the counter closing at 2.23. Finance Minister Kwabe Duffuor announced that the country is unlikely to seek further funds from the IMF as the country's "gross international reserves are doing well".

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.20%, Vols USD 3.85m

Interesting day in Kenya. Whilst internet issues still persist we saw an active session today with $4.48mill trading. EQBNK had its last trading day cum-div today (1st and final div of KES1 was announced on 8 March) and we saw active vols at the 18.50 level with the name closing unch at KES18.50. Foreign activity was 30% on both the buy and the sell side in the name. The other major bank KNCB was also very active closing up 1.23% at KES20.50 with foreign buyers almost the entire market. EABL also saw some chunky activity with 600k trading unch at KES200. Foreigners were almost the entire purchase side. The shilling continues to slide, now trading at KES83.00 as oil importers continue to demand US Dollars.

Mauritius: Semdex -0.12%, Vols USD 413k

Rather quiet in Mauritius today with value traded amounting to USD 413k with mosty of the activity focused around MDIT and the hotel counters. The market ended the day weaker with the Semdex falling 0.12% to close at 1,761.25. Industry Minister Cader Sayed-Hossen released figures showing that exports declined 4% in the first two months of the year as a result of the ongoing problems in the UK/ Euro region. MCB closed the day flat at 163.00 while SBM gained 0.65% to close at 78.00. NMH fell 1.41% to close at 70.00 while Rogers closed the day flat at 295.00.

Nigeria: ASI +0.66%, Vols USD 17.84m

Relatively active day in Nigeria with the bulls winning the battle to close the week on a positive note. The banks found some positive momentum with the sector +1.86% for the day, driven higher by Access and GTB results. Audited year end results for 31 December 2011 came out for GTB and Access Bank during the session. GTB results were mixed/strong which was reflected in their share price (+1.21%, N14.22) while Access Bank delivered stellar results and the market reacted positively to this (+4.98%, N6.53) with the name trading net bid after the results. NB continues to be active, although todays vol did include a number of bookovers. The name closed marginally up at N95. M2 money supply growth slowed from 18.5% to 13.4% in Feb as private sector growth slowed to 39.1%.

South Africa: Top 40 +0.21%, Vols USD 2.09bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 0.21% to close at 30,398 while value traded amounted to USD 2.09bn. Resources were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 0.71% followed by Industrials which gained 0.10% while Financials fell 0.14%. The Rand was trading at 7.57 and 9.97 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed. Banking regulator to probe the recent boom in unsecured lending by the big banks. Reserve Bank Governor Gill Marcus says that "inlfation is becoming more generalized".

Zambia: LuSE -0.06%, Vols USD 24.8k

Quiet day in Zambia today with value traded amounting to USD 24.8k. The names that traded included ZMBF, PUMA, ZNCO, SCBL and CECZ. ZMBF was the biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 12.3k. PUMA was the second biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 4.8k.

Zimbabwe: Industrials -0.16%, Mining unch, Vols USD 4.5m

The ZSE closed the week in the red falling -0.16% to 138.67pts in a fairly active session. Value traded improved to $4.5m from $2.9m boosted by yet another special bargain in Delta that saw 5m units crossed at 70c value at with a value of $3.5m. In normal trading Delta was net sellers at 68c. There was a second special bargain in life assurer Fidelity of 981,237 shares which crossed at 18.64c worth $192,714. Total volumes however dropped to 18.5m from yesterday’s 30.3m units. Foreign investors enjoyed the lion’s share of activity on the local bourse buying $3.6m (80%) of $4.4m in counters such as Delta, Hippo and Innscor while foreign selling was negligible $88,680. Gulliver was the worst performing stock of the day easing 25% to 0.03c with a cumulative YTD loss of 62.50% followed by Interfin which was 22.39% in the negative at 3.50c. Other notable losses were in Edgars which lost -5.45% to 8.5c, OK eased -3.67% to 10.5c and Hippo which lost -1.96% to 100c. Only four counters recorded gains. Innscor and Larfage edged 1c apiece to 59c and 61c respectively while Dawn and Trust added +7.14% and 6.25% to 0.75c and 0.85c respectively. Econet was steady at 390c. The mining index was steady at 85.45pts There were no trades in the resources sector. Week on week the mining index lost -7.50 or 6.93 points.