Movers & Shakers: November 28, 2012

African Currencies

Botswana -0.10%, USD 587k

Once again Letshego accounted for almost all, 97%, of the activity in Bots today – the name traded at 205/204t, closing unch. There were two px changes in two of the more illiquid names, Bettabeta and Discovery Metals. The former added +5t to close at 3690 while the latter fell -50t to close at 1300t.

Egypt: EGX 30 -4.61%, USD 70m

With massive protests continuing across the country, with Non-Islamists political powers declaring an open sit-in and calling for another massive protest this coming Friday, which could lead to calls for a civil disobedience if the President didn't rescind his decree, the market witnessed another strong hit today, leaving the EGX30 to end the day down 4.61% to close at 4,815.43 points. Market volumes improved compared to recent turnovers, the market traded a total turnover of USD 70m. Surprisingly retail investors ended the day as net-buyers after being net-sellers from week start, this came after international investors turned aggressive sellers today along with local institutions, this is mainly attributed to Egypt’s Highest Court Joining protesters adding to this Egyptian court suspending work nationwide.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Sellers by 23.74 mn EGP and were 23.55% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Sellers by 1.98 mn EGP and were 66.91% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Buyers by 25.72 mn EGP and were 9.53% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Sellers by 34.89 mn EGP and were 36.86% of the market.
•  Retail were net Buyers by 34.89 mn EGP and were 63.13% of the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.25%, USD 3.80m

Equity turnover fell 41.9% with foreign investors dominating activity, accounting for 67.4% of trades. KCB was the day's top mover accounting for 30% of the days volumes with foreign investors actively trading on both sides of the counter. The bank extended losses made yesterday, easing 0.9% to KES 28.25. Safaricom was also fairly active driven by foreign investors selling off the stock. The counter eased 2% to KES 4.90. Total Kenya slipped 2.2% to KES 13.50 after announcing a KES 243m loss for the 9 months ending September. On the gainers side Equity bank extended its gains climbing 1% to KES 24.45, on strong foreign investor demand. Uchumi recouped losses made in previous session gaining 1.6% to KES 19.40.

Mauritius Semdex +0.21%, USD 410k

It was a very quiet session in Mauritius today – a paltry $410k traded. The Sem-7 experienced good support closing + 0.34% better off after SBM lifted +119bps and Rogers added +145bps. The most active names were the two big banks MCB and SBM but nothing really significant. The most active counter for the session was investment company Alteo Limited which traded unch at 30.3.

Nigeria: ASI +0.45%, USD 7.97m

It was a seesaw affair in Nigeria today. The market opened higher and continued on this path before falling sharply to trade flat before surging higher again – eventually closing +0.45% higher. The liquidity levels or lack thereof meant that the session was really quiet with a lack of conviction ever present – there is still no suggestion that this will improve until the turn of the year. The top-tier banks traded higher, FBNH +1.92%, Access +0.79% and Zenith +0.3% while the mid-tier names took a beating, Sterling -3.23%, Fidelity -2.38% and Skyebank -1.28% this meant that the sector as a whole closed flat bnk10 unch. There were some decent gains by a few of the consumer plays PZ +0.78% and Nestle +2.4%. 12 stocks advanced, 23 declined and 47 remained unchanged. It is clear how low the activity levels are when one looks at the following list of the highest value of trades: FO, REDSTAREX, MANSARD, PRESTIGE and UPL.

South Africa: Top 40 -1.06%, USD 1.35bn

The JSE ended the day lower with the Top 40 Index falling 1.06% to close at 33,225 while value traded amounted to USD 1.35bn. Resources were the day's biggest losers with the Index falling 2.16% followed by Industrials and Financials which fell 0.64% and 0.15% respectively. The Rand was trading at 8.87 and 11.43 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE unch, USD 686k

Surprisingly active day in Lusaka with value traded amounting to an impressive 686k thanks to crosses in NATBREW and PUMA. The names that traded included CEC, INVESTRUST, NATBREW, PUMA, ZAIN, ZSUG and ZNCO. NATBREW was the biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 574k. PUMA was the second biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 67k.

Zimbabwe Industrial +0.19%, Mining +2.86%, USD 3.92m

ZSE shares traded in the positive in mid-week trades as foreign investors pump cash into equities. The mainstream index rose 0.19% to 152.37points spurred by gains in Econet, Innscor, and TSL while solid gains in Rio saw the mining index gain 2.86% to 70.54points. Foreign participation in heavy cap stocks saw turnover rising to $3.92m from $0.89m as volumes doubled to 9.66m shares. Foreign sales rose to $1.6m. Econet and Delta alone accounted for 91% ($3.56m) of value traded as foreign investors cherry pick on stable stocks. Despite reports that foreign direct investments into Zimbabwe have dropped from $7billion approved last year to $821m in 2012, foreign portfolio investments has actually improved in 2012 despite political “noise". As of October 2012, foreign portfolio inflows stood at $179.2m up 9% from comparable period last year while foreign outflows actually declined 3% from $118.4m to $115.4m. Econet rose a marginal 0.08% to 491.5c while Innscor recovered 1.47% to 69c as investors begin to buy on weakness. Delta, Hippo, Seedco and Barclays were steady at previous levels. AICO was offered at 12c as demand disappeared ahead of interims and analyst briefing this afternoon.