Movers & Shakers: May 31, 2013

Botswana: DCI -0.20%, USD 1.05m

Action in the big 2 accounted for most of the turnover in Gaborone today. Choppies closed at 300t while Letshego closed at 240t on decent volume while FNBB (370t) saw decent activity yet again.

Egypt: Closed for the day

Kenya: NSE 20 +0.22%, USD 8.9m

Equity turnover climbed 61.9% as block trading improved during the day. Foreign investors accounted for 66.8% of the day’s activity, rising from 50.4% in the previous session. Barclays Bank retreated 3.2% after disappointing 1Q13 results after EPS declined 15.6%y/y. EABL had a relief rally, notching 0.8% higher during the day. Centum eased 2.1% on profit taking after a strong rally. Williamson Tea rose 3.7% while Kapchorua was unchanged after the two related tea companies reporting stronger than expected FY13 results to March after relatively weaker interim earnings. Investors appeared to initially shrug off negative management comments attributing the outlook to the new county governments and the new Agricultural and Fisheries board- but without elaborating. May inflation numbers were also released during the session, remaining stable at 4.1%y/y on the previous month.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.20%, USD 575k

Another quiet day to end the month in Mauritius although the Sem-7 reversed yesterday’s weakness by gaining 40bps. The Sem-7 gainers were MCB (+13bps, Rs195), SBM (+97bps, Rs1.04) and Alteo (+1.41%, Rs36).

Nigeria: ASI -0.58%, USD 22.23m

Some selling to close the month was the name of the game in Lagos today. Banks were down 1.72% with the biggest losers being GTB (-4.97%, N28.50) and Skye Bank (-3.06%, N4.75). The only banking name to close in the green was ETI (+1.87%, N15.28). The consumer sector also took a hit and ended the day down 1.90%. Nestle (-8%, N1001.01) reversed that silly gain that occurred just before yesterday’s close while Dangote Sugar also got hurt (-8.03%, N9.50). Dangote Flour closed down 2.23% at N9.2 while Cadbury recorded a small gain (+1.7%, N55.49). NB closed down 6bps at N177.90 while Guinness, Flourmills and Unilever all recorded gains.

Please note that the index figure above is correct at the time of writing.

South Africa: Top 40 +0.26%, USD 2.80bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 0.26% to close at 37,599 while value traded amounted to USD 2.80bn. Resources were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 0.46% followed by Industrials which gained 0.30% while Financials fell 0.83%. The Rand was trading at 10.05 and 13.02 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE +0.21%, USD 154k

Better day in Lusaka with value traded amoutning to USD 154k thanks to crosses in ZMBF and CEC. The names that traded included BATZ, CCHZ, CEC, PUMA, SCZ, ZMBF and ZNCO. ZMBF was the biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 90k. CEC was the second biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 60k.

Zimbabwe: Industrials -0.18%, Mining -2.1%, USD 2.2m

Econet which yesterday reported subdued EPS of 9c against 10c in prior year slid -3.6% to 70c amid selling pressure in normal trades and with it dragging the industrial index -0.18% lower at 212.38pts. Despite the loss, Econet boosted today’s market turnover of $2.2m by contributing 60% ($1.3m) thanks to a special bargain of 1,173,553 shares at a premium price of 72.6c. Losses for the day were also seen in heavy weights Innscor -0.33% to 92c and BAT -0.24% to 825c. Star Africa with creditors and lenders scheme meetings slated for 05 June 2013 was the day’s top loser shedding -25% to 1.2c on trades worth $1.80. Month on month the industrial index was firm 12% to today's 212.38pts. The contagion effect saw mining easing 2.1% to 73.99pts with declines of -6.3% to 15c in Hwange and -1.4% to 2.86c in Bindura weighing in. In the month under review the resources index added +2% to today’s 73.99pts.

African Currencies