Movers & Shakers: September 03, 2013

Botswana: DCI +0.37%, USD 9.89m

Much better day in Gaborone today thanks to crosses in BIHL (5.48m shares) and Stanchart (2m shares) as value traded amounted to USD 9.89m. The rest of the market was relatively quiet.

Egypt: EGX 30 -0.93%, USD 42m

The market traded with a mixed sentiment today to end the day in the reds, leaving the EGX30 to end the day down 0.93% to close 5,195.74 points. The market continues to trade very weak volumes yet a slight improvement to recent average turnover, the market traded a total turnover of USD 42m. The market started the day with a positive sentiment to reach a high of 5254.05 points, yet after an hour of trading Russian state TV announced that Russian defenses spotted 2 missiles heading to the Eastern-Mediterranean, which triggered a sell-off in Egypt and all regional markets on back of fears of US attack on Syria, after hours the Israeli government announced that it was just a missile test, yet the market did not manage to regain most of its losses. International and GCC institutions investors ended the day as net buyers( after being net sellers over the last couple of weeks), yet local investors ended the day as net-sellers targeting names such as PIOH, UEGC and PHDC leaving each to end the day down 2.35%, 1.98% and 1.80% respectively, its worth mentioning that names such as ACGC and APSW continue to wittiness notable interest from local investors leaving each to end the day up 9.04% and 3.57% respectively.

Kenya: NSE 20 -0.46%, USD 2.6m

Activity slid on another uneventful day in Nairobi as value traded amounted to $2.6m. EABL was once again the most active in terms of turnover as foreigners accounted for the majority of the sales in the counter with a total of 263k shares traded over the day. Locals dominated activity in Kenya Commercial Bank (1.11m shares) as the banking giant managed to break out of it's recent slump and gain 0.60%. Both Mumias Sugar and Uchumi Supermarkets reported FY 2013 results this morning with the market reacting negatively to both sets of results as Mumias fell -6.67% (on decent volume) while Uchumi fell -3.6%.

Mauritius: Semdex -0.04%, USD 1.51m

Another relatively decent day in Mauritius as value traded amounted to USD 1.51m. MCB dominated activity with a total of 78k shares changing hands as the counter fell 0.26% to close at Rs193 while SBM closed unchanged at Rs1.05. There was another cross in MCB floating-rate notes of 10k shares at Rs 1,050.26 today

Nigeria: NSE 20 -0.23%, USD 11.58m

Things went from bad to worse in Lagos today from an activity point of view with value traded amounting to a dire $11.58m. A large cross in Nestle relatively early in the session the only talking point as a total of 433k shares changed hands in the name over the day. Guaranty Trust Bank went ex-div today and only traded at the price of 24.90. Banks closed the day flat with the Bank 10 Index gaining 0.04% as First Bank (-1.81%) came under some pressure. This was however countered by a move higher in Zenith Bank (+1.10%). Consumers (-0.63%) closed in the red with the sector lead lower by Cadburys (-5.39%).

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

South Africa: Top 40 +0.44%, USD 1.04bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 0.44% to close at 38,513 while value traded amounted to USD 1.04bn. Resources were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 1.14% followed by Industrials which gained 0.07% while Financials fell 0.02%. The Rand was trading at 10.32 and 13.60 to the USD and EUR respectivley by the time local markets closed.

Zimbabwe: Industrials -1.66%, Mining unch, USD 1.08m

The mainstream index eased 1.66% to 117.32pts on an intensified sell-off. Delta was the major casualty losing 2.87% to 104.9c as it heads towards the psychological 100c mark. This transpired as parliamentary inauguration was underway, which is set to be preceded by cabinet appointements later this week. The resources recorded no trades for the third day running to close at previous levels of 48.73pts. Only 2 counters were on the rise compared to 8 fallers with the bulk of fallers being top cap counters. Aggregate number of trades improved on yesterday by 178% to 64. Value traded increased 16.79% to $1.08m augured by a 48% contribution from Econet.

African Currencies