Movers & Shakers: May 02, 2013

Botswana: DCI +0.08%, USD 891k

Crosses in the likes of NAP, FNBB and Choppies drove activity today with total value traded amounting to USD 891k. Market heavyweight Letshego was extremely quiet with only 111k shares traded in the name on a day where market breadth was relatively narrow.

Egypt: EGX 30 +1.54%, USD 39m

Against all odds the market traded the day with a notable positive sentiment lead by notable buying from local investors (institutional and retail), leaving the EGX30 to end the day up 1.54% to close at 5,276.62 points. Market volumes remains very weak yet with a slight improvement to recent turnovers, the market traded a total turnover of USD 39m. With all the negative news such as EFG/Qinvest deal collapsing and the implantation of the 10bps stamp tax on all Egyptians shares the market managed to buoyed all the news to trade positively, with names such as JUFO, OCIC and COMI witnessing a notable interest from local investors, each ending the day up 5.91%, 3.10% and 1.80% respectively, it’s worth mentioning that the only positive news out was that OCI settled the pro-longed Tax issue with the government. HRHO was one of the few names that traded reds yet it was expected to witness panic selling after the deal collapsed, yet the name managed to generate some buying around the EGP9.77 area to last print at EGP9.85, the former ended the day at a VWAP of 9.78 down 1.71% on above average volumes.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Sellers by 17.95 mn EGP and were 33.39% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Buyers by 19.84 mn EGP and were 53.70% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Sellers by 1.88 mn EGP and were 12.92% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Sellers by 8.19 mn EGP and were 52.79% of the market.
•  Retail were net Buyers by 8.19 mn EGP and were 47.20% of the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 +0.48%, USD 10.6m

The Equities market maintained its momentum after yesterday’s public holiday, with the NSE 20 index climbing 0.48% to close at 4,788.3 points. Equity turnover rose 53.8% with foreign investors accounting for 37% of trades. Buoyed by local investor trading, KCB was the day’s top mover accounting for 42% of volumes. EABL was also actively traded, with foreign investors accounting for 100% of its demand. The brewer gained 3.9% to touch its 2 month high of KES 317. Safaricom maintained its momentum, climbing further 2.2% to touch a new year high of KES 7, levels last seen in July 2008. Centum was the days leading gainer, edging up 4.9% to KES 21.25. On the losing end, Uchumi continued to see selling pressure, easing 6.1% to KES 18.55. Jubilee slipped 6.2% to KES 244, after its FY12 performance figures underperformed its peers. Access Kenya extended its losses on profit taking edging down 5.5% to KES 9.50.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.42%, USD 1.34m

Much better day in Mauritius thanks to a few large crosses in Alteo with value traded amounting to USD 1.34m. Alteo accounted for 74% of turnover as atotal of 829k shares changed hands in the name and manged to gain 0.81% to close at 37.50. The two major banking stocks were mixed with MCB gaining 1.58% while SBM closed the day unchanged. Not much went on in NMH as a mere 6.8k shares traded.

Nigeria: ASI +3.18%, USD 23.40m

There was a decent amount of activity after yesterday's holiday with value traded amounting to a pleasing $23.40m. Most of the activity was centered around Zenith Bank ($7.77m) with a cross of 30m shares going through at 20.30 as a total of 60.7m shares traded over the day. Banking stocks were strong with the Bank 10 Index gaining 0.97% lead higher by tier-2 banks Stanbic (+7.14%), Skye Bank (+4.18%) and Diamond Bank (+3.51%). First Bank released Q1 2013 results with the name closing 3.11% higher at 19.23 after Friday's sell-off. Consumers were unfortunately rather dull with the Consumer Goods Index gaining 0.19%.

South Africa: Top 40 +0.87%, USD 1.81bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 0.87% to close at 34,363 while value traded amounted to USD 1.81bn. Industrials were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 1.81% followed by Financials which gained 0.55% while Resources fell 0.37%. The Rand was trading at 8.96 and 11.70 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE -1.06%, USD 241k

Decent day in Lusaka with value traded amounting to USD 241k thanks to a cross in NATBREW. The names that traded included CEC, NATBREW, PUMA, SCZ, ZAMBREW, ZAMEFA, ZNCO and ZSUG. NATBREW was the biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 164k. PUMA was the second biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 26k.

Zimbabwe: Industrials -0.33%, Mining -1.24%, USD 670k

Month opening trades saw the mainstream industrial index losing 0.33% to 189.04 driven by heavyweight losses in Hippo, Innscor, OK ZIM and Old Mutual countering gains in Delta and Econet. The mining index also lost 1.24% to 71.09 points on the back of a lower bid in B.N.C at 2.8c from the previous one of 2.9c. The holiday effect saw value traded at $0.67m, 10.45% lower than last day of April value of $0.74m largely on subdued local participation and declining foreign sales. Volume traded also came down 26.95% to 2.46m.

African Currencies