Movers & Shakers: October 24, 2013

Botswana: DCI +0.31%, USD 303k

A block trade in FNBB (380t) the only excitement today in Gaborone with only scraps going through in some other names.

Egypt: EGX 30 +0.09%, USD 74m

The market traded with a mixed sentiment today to end the slightly higher, leaving the EGX30 to end the day up 0.09% to close 6,171.21 points. Volumes were slightly lower relative to recent turnovers, the market traded a total turnover of USD 74m. The market started the day was a notable negative sentiment to reach a low of 6,136.22 points this was mainly lead by notable selling from institutional investors , yet after 30 min of trading a wave of buying interest is evident to reach a high of 6,171.67 points were names such as PHDC, ESRS and OTMT witnessed notable buying interest leaving each to end the up 1.92%, 1.70% and 2.99% respectively, yet names such as SKPC, ETEL and ACGC witnessed selling pressure leaving each to end the day down 1.59%, 1.20% and 0.58% respectively.

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.08%, USD 29.7m

A monster cross in I&M ($17.28m) where both the buyer and the seller were local helped boost activity to a very impressive $29.7m. Safcom was once again very active on the back of foreign activity as a total of 37.78m shares traded in the telco. Foreign dominace was also prevalant in EABL as the counter closed flat at KES 319 as 735k shares traded in the name. The two major banking stocks were relatively active as locals dominated activity with 2.58m shares traded in Kenya Commercial Bank while 3.02m shares traded in Equity Bank.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.67%, USD 3.57m

It was all about MCB today as some foreign crossing at an all-time high of Rs202 dominated the turnover as well as led the Sem-7 higher. MCB closed up 2.02% at Rs202 on the bulk of today’s volume while NMH also rose by 57bps to Rs88 although on muted volumes. ENL Land rose by 51bps to Rs49 and Terra rose by 62bps to Rs40.50.

Nigeria: ASI +0.54%, USD 18.32m

A quieter day than in recent sessions although still dominated by crosses. Banks recovered by 54bps today with Tier 1 banks again driving the direction of the entire sector. All Tier 1 names (bar Access) closed in the green while Tier 2 names were more mixed on thin volumes. Consumers slipped by 42bps for the session with mild weakness in Guinness (-1.63%, N241), NB (-29bps, N173.50) and PZ (-2.50%, N39) the main reasons for the softness. NB was also the most active stock today with almost $3m changing hands in the name. Dangote Cement saw some chunky crossing and closed up 1.88% at N190.

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

South Africa: Top 40 +0.03%, USD 1.28bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 0.03% to close at 40,242 while value traded amounted to USD 1.28bn. Resources were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 0.67% followed Financials which gained 0.05% while Industrials fell 0.28%. The Rand was trading at 9.77 and 13.48 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zimbabwe: Industrials -0.02%, Mining unch, USD 1.83m

Activity on the bourse remained reasonable as turnover hovered above the $1m mark having been resilient above this psychological level since week opening session. At $1.83m turnover was 44% above yesterday buoyed by trades in Delta accounting for 48% of the gross value at a previous close of 135c. The beverages manufacturer will present its interims on the 14th of November after its Q2 trading update failed to excite investors thus far. Volumes traded were up 10% to 12.52m shares with a block in Pearl of 5m shares highlighting the session, as flows in the property company continue dominating trades. The industrials however suffered a further knock, though moderate, at -0.02% to 209.58pts.

African Currencies