Movers & Shakers: October 07, 2013

Botswana: DCI +0.17%, USD 7.5m

2 chunky crosses in Choppies (305t) and FNBB (372t) spiced up proceedings today in Gaborone. A handful of other scraps traded outside of these.

Egypt: EGX 30 +0.69%, USD 55m

Despite of the deadly clashes that erupted in yesterday's protests, the market managed to kick start the week in positive territory to close at 5,765.87 points up 0.69%. Volumes remained with-in recent average turnovers as the total value traded today was USD 55m. Institutions mainly locals continued their buying spree in the likes of TMGH, CCAP and EAST. Moreover, retail investors also added some support as they continued to rotate between stocks and targeting relatively lagging stocks such as CCAP and EGTS on a technical breakthrough. Internationals remained as net sellers on below average market participation of 14%.

Kenya: NSE 20 +0.83%, USD 7.9m

Very solid start to the week in Nairobi from both a performance and activity point of view as foreign investors were very aggressive with value traded amounting to $7.9m. There was some chunky action in Safcom as foreigners dominated both sides of the name with the counter gaining 2.2% to close at KES 9.10 on 28m shares. Both banking giants were very strong with foreign demand pushing prices in the names as Equity Bank gained 3.6% while Kenya Commercial Bank gained 3.7%. On the negative side; there was some foreign selling in Bamburi Cement as it fell -1.9% to close at KES 210.00.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.20%, USD 1.8m

A decent day in Port Louis today with some chunky action in MCB (+39bps, Rs195) and PBL (unch, Rs190) leading the turnover charts. The Sem-7 gained 34bps on the back of strength in MCB as well as NMH (+1.24%, Rs81.50), Alteo Limited (+70bps, Rs35.75) and IBL (+26bps, Rs96.75).

Nigeria: ASI -0.19%, USD 25.9m

A large cross in Wapco was the main focus in an otherwise dull session to begin the week in Lagos. Wapco accounted for half the daily turnover as the name closed down marginally at N98.50. Banks (-9bps) were very quiet for most of the session but some late activity in GTB (-78bps, N25.40) and Zenith (+10bps, N20.20) helped volumes improve ever so slightly. Interestingly, Tier 1 banks were soft while Tier 2 banks were generally positive. Consumers fell by 55bps with weakness in NB (-1.6%, N170.23), Flourmills (-3.61%, N80) and PZ (-2.61%, N37.01) while this was offset by strength in Cadbury (+4%, N49.95), DangSuga (+3.5%, N11.70) and Nestle (+35bps, N1002). Nestle was by far the most active name in the sector as it accounted for more than $1.2m.

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

South Africa: Top 40 -0.60%, USD 1.18bn

The JSE ended the day lower with the Top 40 Index falling 0.60% to close at 39,050 while value traded amounted to USD 1.18bn. Resources were the day's biggest losers with the Index falling 0.63% followed by Industrials and Financials which fell 0.54% and 0.33% respectively. The Rand was trading at 9.97 and 13.53 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zimbabwe: Industrials +0.70%, Mining +3.86%, USD 1.97m

The ZSE industrials continued on their merry way adding +0.70% to 209.83pts as market blue chips continue to trade higher. Notable was seed giant Seed-Co which gained +3.85% to 87.01c as the farming season looks optimistic due to heavy funding being put into the agricultural sector by the government and the private sector. Conglomerate Innscor added +2.35% to 87c with Old Mutual advancing +1.86% to 247.51c on the wake of its compliance with the indigenization policy by facilitating a trading platform of its 25% B class shares allocated to various groups. On the other side, the mining index gained + 3.86% to 52.48pts as mining giant Rio Zim continues to shine amongst the mining counters. Strong demand on the stock saw it firming +16.67% to 35c as it readies itself for the re-opening of the Cam Motor Mine next year. Value traded closed weaker culminating to a -23.72% decline to $1.97m with foreign interest looking subdued as buyers were down -40.85% to $0.594m and sellers easing at -26.95% to $0.694m on close call.

African Currencies