Movers & Shakers: September 27, 2013

Botswana: DCI +0.01%, USD 408k

A cross in Choppies (1.12m shares) tried to get things going today (unsuccessfully so) as value traded amounted to a rather boring USD 408k ahead of the long weekend with the market closed next week Monday and Tuesday.

Egypt: Closed for the day.

Kenya: NSE 20 +0.08%, USD 3.4m

Another slow day to end the week as value traded amounted to $3.4m. Foreign demand in Safcom helped drive activity in the telco as 7.26m shares traded while a cross in SCAN Group helped boost activity as 543k shares traded in the name with foreigners accounting for 99% of sales. Foreign demand continued in East African Breweries as 102ks shares changed hands. Unfortunately it was a very quiet session in Nairobi with not much to report on.

Mauritius: Semdex +0.25%, USD 567k

Not much on the go in Port Louis today as value traded amounted to USD 567k. After releasing FY 2013 results yesterday, MCB managed to rally 0.30% to close the day at 193.00. Rogers was rather active today as 27k shares traded in the name while there was also some action in NMH as 42k shares traded after the hotelierdeclared a dividend of Rs 1.00.

Nigeria: ASI +0.77%, USD 10.83m

Dire day to end the week with value traded amounting to an extremely slow $10.83m. Guaranty Trust Bank ($1.41m) was once again the market leader in terms of activity closely followed by UBA ($1.19m) with some crosses early in the session. Consumers were very quiet with some activity in Nestle ($598k) and Nigerian Breweries ($864k) the only names worth mentioning. Tier-two banks drove the banking sector (+0.51%) higher FCMB (+3.54%) and Diamond Bank (+3.39%) were the sector's leaders. Consumers (+0.73%) were also stronger with good performances in Guinness (+2.17%) and Nigerian Breweries (+1.87%).

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

South Africa: Top 40 +0.05%, USD 1.19bn

The JSE ended the day higher with the Top 40 Index gaining 0.05% to close at 39,774 while value traded amounted to USD 1.19bn. Industrials were the day's biggest gainers with the Index gaining 0.25% followed by Financials which gained 0.21% while Resources fell 0.17%. The Rand was trading at 10.08 and 13.63 to the USD and EUR respectively by the time local markets closed.

Zimbabwe: Industrials +0.67%, Mining unch, USD 6.39m

Strong interest continued to show in beverages giant Delta as 5m shares valued at $6m exchanged hands at 120c, culminating in successive sessions of large demand in the counter. The trade dominated Friday's activity with contributions of 94% to turnover, 52% to volumes and 95% of foreign purchases which ended the week +93% up at $6.3m. Foreign sales remained subdued regressing -51% to $0.29mn. Albeit the special bargain, normal trades were subdued at $0.39mn as supply constarints continued to prevail amid selected demand.

African Currencies