Movers & Shakers: May 17, 2012

Botswana: Market closed for a public holiday today.

Egypt: EGX 30 -1.31%, Vols USD 61m

The market managed to end the day in negative territory, leaving the EGX30 to end the day down 1.31%, to close at 4890.30 points. Volumes were within recent average volumes, market traded a total turnover of USD 61M. Volatility continued throughout the day today in Egyptian blue-chips as institutional investors (International) continue to be net sellers in the market, on the back of political instability as we get closer towards the presidential election a sense of anxiety as many investors continue to be bystanders opting to decrease their level of activity, adding to this the global economic woes. OCIC traded against the general market sentiment this came after the company announced that it's EGM unanimously approved all resolutions pertaining demerger of OCI's construction business, the name ended the day up 0.80% to close at EGP275.90.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Sellers by 36.23 mn EGP and were 27.11% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Buyers by 29.14 mn EGP and were 67.04% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Buyers by 7.09 mn EGP and were 5.85% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Sellers by 15.92 mn EGP and were 41.27% of the market.
•  Retail were net Buyers by 15.92 mn EGP and were 58.72% of the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 +0.62%, Vols USD 4.18m

Good day in Kenya with value traded amounting to $4.18m. Kenya Commercial Bank dominated trading from a value traded point of view with 2.74m shares changing hands thanks to a number medium sized crosses. SCAN was rather active with 960k shares traded in the name. Kenya Airways was extremely strong today, gaining 8.42% to close at 16.10 after Virgin Atlantic announced that they were cancelling their Nairobi/ London route. SCBL reported an increase of 41% in Q1 pretax profit with the name gaining 1.76% to close at 173. BCBL rallied 3.07% after posting decent Q1 numbers yesterday. The market closed in positive territory with the NSE 20 Index gaining 0.62% to close at 3,677.81. Foreigners were net buyers accounting for $1.74m of total purchases while they accounted for $1.30m of total sales.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.32%, Vols USD 1m

Another subdued day in Mauritius today. NMH managed to make a strong advance +5.63% on the day although the vwap was Rs72.77 agianst the closing price of Rs75. MCB was the only other notable gainer +0.6% to close at Rs169. SBM and Terra on the other hand were the losers on the day -1.18% to Rs84 and -1.27% to Rs39 respectively. The activity was focussed around BM, Terra and MCB in that order.

Nigeria: ASI movement and value traded unknown at the time of writing due to the system failures in Nigeria

There were two stoppages in trading today meaning that there were delays and that all the data that is being reflected is incorrect, hence it will be a while before an accurate report is released. The banks got a chance to take a breath and the bank index was trading in the black for the early part of the session before the systems crashed and we stopped receiving accurate data. There was a massive cross in thinly traded IHS for 343m shares.

South Africa: Top 40 -0.92%, Vols USD 1.57bn

The JSE ended the day lower with the Top 40 Index falling 0.92% to close at 29,580 while value traded amounted to USD 1.57bn. Resources were the day's biggest losers with the Index falling 1.29% followed by Financials and Industrials which fell 0.76% and 0.68%. The Rand was trading at 8.64 and 10.60 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE -0.42%, Vols USD 5k

Nothing happened in Zambia today with the most active name being CECZ trading a paltry $1800. SCBL fell -2.94%.

Zimbabwe: Industrial +1.0%, Mining -0.63%, Vols USD 2.44m

Very active day in Zimbabwe thanks once again to Delta with a cross of 2m shares going through at 0.70 while total value traded on the market amounted to $2.44m. The Industrial sector closed the day higher with the Index gaining 1.0% to close at 131.66 while the Mining Index fell 0.63% to close at 83.52.