Movers & Shakers: September 05, 2012

African Currencies

Botswana: DCI -0.03%, USD 153k

Activity increased somewhat today with value traded amounting to USD 153k thanks to a cross in Choppies. The market closed slightly lower with the DCI falling 0.03% to close at 7,315.18. Sechaba (1,455t, +5t) was the only name that traded higher today. Letshego (139t, -1t), Stanchart (980t, -7t) and Turnstar (158t, -1t) all closed lower.

Egypt: EGX 30 -0.56%, USD 112m

The market ended the day with a negative sentiment, leaving the EGX30 to end the day down 0.56% to close at 5,510.56 points. Market traded decent volumes yet weaker than recent turnovers, the market traded a total turnover of USD 112m, its worth mentioning more than 15% of the total turnover was attributed to one cross in EAST. As the session started trading the market witnessed notable profit taking lead by local institutions along with international investors, the market was pressured down to reach a low of 5467.21 points, yet after an hour of trading local retail investors stepped in and supported the market to reach a high of 5541.30 points. OCIC lead the market in terms of volumes, the name managed to gain investors’ appetite before the release of its 2Q2012 results which is expected to be announced tomorrow, the former ended the day up 0.04% to close at EGP284.50. One of the names that managed to trade against the general market sentiment was EFIC the name ended the day up 1.80% on above average volumes to close at EGP12.60.

Investor mix:
•  Foreigners were net Sellers by 41.71 mn EGP and were 28.46% of the market.
•  Egyptians were net Buyers by 33.72 mn EGP and were 63.20% of the market.
•  Arabs were net Buyers by 7.99 mn EGP and were 8.34% of the market.
•  Institutions were net Sellers by 37.25 mn EGP and were 38.15% of the market.
•  Retail were net Buyers by 37.25 mn EGP and were 61.84% of the market.

Kenya: NSE 20 +0.04%, USD 6.6m

An active day in Kenya with volume driven by EABL, the stock accounting for 50% of the vols. After a relatively subdued start the foreign activity picked up and total foreign participation was 66%. EABL closed up 1.3% at KES230 after a large cross dominated on both sides by foreign investors. ARML was also active and the name closed up 2% at KES209 with foreign buying the driving force in the name. The other large caps did not see much action, although Safcom briefly touch KES4.10 before closing unchanged at KES3.95. The big news of the day was the larger than expected cut of 3.5% in the benchmark rate from 16.5% to 13%. This could lead local investors to switch out of fixed income into equities.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.21%, USD 1.25m

Fairly decent day with value traded amounting to USD 1.25m while the Semdex gained 0.21% to close at 1,697.12. MCB drove activity thanks to a few large crosses (total of 105k shares crossed over the day) and managed to close in positive territory at 163.00. SBM also managed to close higher at 82.50 and was relatively active as 34k shares traded. There was a decent amount of activity in NMH as 81k shares traded with the name gaining 0.84% to close at 60.00.

Nigeria: ASI +1.45%, USD 13.77m

The bulls won the day in Lagos with a number of stocks trading at limit up despite a return to quieter volumes. The names that closed limit up included Dangsuga, Cadbury, Flour Mills, Wapco, Ashaka Cement and UBN while the entire banking sector, bar Diamond Bank, closed the day in the black. Heavyweight Dangote Cement closed the day up 1.73%. Unilever saw some decent action for a change as its usually a somewhat illiquid stock. However, as usual the action was mostly around the banks with First Bank and GTB once again the most actively traded stocks on the day.

South Africa: Top 40 -0.28%, USD 1.35bn

The JSE ended the day lower with the Top 40 Index falling 0.28% to close at 30,797 while value traded amounted to USD 1.35bn. Financials were the day's biggest losers with the Index falling 0.38% followed by Industrials which fell 0.26% while Resources gained 0.01%. The Rand was trading at 8.39 and 10.58 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zambia: LuSE -1.05%, USD 593k

Very active in Zambia with value traded amounting to USD 593k thanks to crosses in NATB and ZMBF. The names that traded included BATZ, CECZ, NATB, REIZ, SCBL, ZNCO and ZMBF. NATB was the biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 360k. ZMBF was the second biggest contributor towards turnover with value traded in the name amounting to USD 219k.

Zimbabwe: Industrial Index +0.29%, Mining Index unch, USD 2.54m

Rather active day today with value traded amounting to USD 2.54m. Econet ($1.1m) and CBZ ($921k) were the major drivers behind activity with the names closing at 9.99c and 425c respectively. The Industrial Index managed to gain 0.29% and close at 136.82 while the Mining Index closed unchanged at 88.20 as Bindura (16,336 shares) was the only name that traded in the sector.