African Market Watch: Tuesday, 24th February 2015

Egypt: The Egyptian Exchange (EGX) indices have closed on mixed note today, as the market capitalization added EGP71mn amid lack of new economic catalysts. Today’s trades came to approve that resistance level of 9675 pts is considered a strong barrier, as the benchmark halted in breaking above it for the second session in row. The benchmark EGX30 (30 well-capitalised companies) inched up 0.11% to close at 9,611.66pts. The EGX70, which measures small and mid-cap stocks, went down 0.52% to 569.63 points and the broader index edged down by 0.47% at 1136.51 points. Today’s turnover amounted to EGP646.6 million, while traded volume reached approx. 83.5 million shares sealed through 15.4 thousands transactions. Foreigners traders were net buyers by EGP18.8 million, while locals and Arabs traders ended as net buyers by EGP18.2 million and EGP628 thousands respectively.

Ghana: The stock market closed higher for a third straight session with gains in four equities helping the indices extend their northward flight. The Ghanaian composite index gained 0.14% from 2,158.40 and the financial index rose by 0.16%.  The market closed with total market capitalization of GHS 63.47mn (0.03% rise compared to previous day) with total turnover of GHS 0.3mn (fell by 93.73% compared to previous day).

Kenya:  The NSE 20 Index lost 0.61 points to close at 5,455.23. The NASI Index, however, gained 1.01 points to close at 176.82. The top gainer today was Unga Group which grew by 6.55 percent to close at KES 1,700.00. The day’s loser was NSE which shaved off 3.66 percent to close at KES 42.00. Volume of shares traded today was recorded at 19.14mn shares, down 31.82 percent from yesterday’s trading. Turnover was recorded at KES 574.48mn, also declining by 51.73 percent. Today’s top mover was KCB Bank with a turnover of KES 366.59mn, representing 29.66 percent of the day’s total market turnover. Foreign buys stood at 27.05 percent of total turnover, while foreign sales stood at 39.59 percent of total turnover.

Malawi: Malawi All Share Index remains unchanged at closing of trading today with total market capitalization of US$17,181mn and total turnover at US$2, 229,69.

Mauritius: The Semdex and the SEM-10 index pursued their uptrend today, with the former gaining 0.43% to 2,015.19 points and the latter rising by 0.44% to 379.29 points. Total market turnover which amounted to Rs124m was predominantly geared towards MCBG which contributed 83% to total market turnover. The latter went up by 0.5% to Rs206.00 with a total volume of 502.7k shares traded. SBM Holdings moved up to Rs1.01 (+1.0%) on 2.5m shares exchanged. The hotelier NMH dropped to Rs67.00 (-1.1%) with thin volume of 8k shares traded. Financial company CFS reached yet another record high of Rs10.00 (+5.3%) on a total volume of 83.2k shares traded. Phoenix Beverages saw several crosses exchanged at Rs280.00 today, amounting to a total volume of 11k shares.

Morocco: Morocco’s benchmark stock index (Madex Index) rose 0.04% and closed at 10 405,47 with total market capitalization at MAD 524bn. Market activities as measured by value closed at MAD 558mn. Moroccan most active share index (MADEX) closed at 8,532.92 (gained 1.01pts compared to previous trading day). Likewise all major sector indices closed on a positive side with Electrical & Electronic Equipments sector leading by 5.00%, Leisure and Hotels by 3.29% but Mining sector fell by 3.81%. Today’s top gainers companies are Alliances, HPS with gains of 7.54% and 6.95% respectively and top losers are Societe Metallurgique dImiter (SMI) and REBAB Company fell by 6.00% and 5.97% respectively. Furthermore, FTSE CSE Morocco 15 Index and FTSE CSE Morocco All-Liquid Index plummeted by 0.16% and 0.02% respectively.

Namibia: The Namibian Overall index fell by 2.70pts to closed at 1173.64pts (0.23% decreased compared to previous closing values) whereas the NSE local index gained 3.60pts and closed at 404.18pts.

Nigeria: The Nigerian Equity Market showed unwavering rise in performance today as the All Share Index advanced 118bps – a breakout of the 30,000pts psychological level – to close at 30,145.60. Whilst the benchmark index closed at 30,145.60pts, market capitalization settled at N10.1tn after adding N117.6bn (118bps). Today’s gain in the index is attributable to advancements in large and mid-cap stocks. Market activities as measured by volume and value closed in opposite directions as volume waned by 0.1% (277mn units) while value advanced by 25.7% (N3.8bn).  Likewise all major sector indices closed in the green zone with banking sector leading by 2.87% attributable to gains sustained in Access Bank (7.9%), United Bank for Africa (4.2%) and Guarantee Trust Bank (3.2%). This was trailed by industrial goods (1.2%), Oil & Gas (0.8%), consumer goods (0.6%) and Insurance (0.4%) sector indices.

Rwanda: The RSE ALSI remained constant to close at 137.58 while the RSE RSI gained 0.11 percent to close at 236.94. Bank of Kigali went up 0.34 percent to close at RWF 297.00. Total volumes stood at 516,000 shares while total turnover stood at RWF 154.62mn.

Tanzania: The DSEI went up by 0.44 percent to close the day’s trading at 2,779.10, as the DSE TSI gained 0.64 percent to close at 4,962.70. The top gainer today was Tanzania Breweries, up 2.26 percent to close at TZS 14,500.00. The top loser was Africa Barrick Gold which declined by 2.61 percent to close at TZS 7,460.00. The volume of shares traded closed at 1.57mn, while total turnover was recorded at TZS 18.07bn at the close of trading today.

Uganda: The USE ALSI dropped 0.57 percent to close at 2,084.27, as the USE LSI increased by 1.28 percent to close at 324.27. Development Finance Company gained 13.29 percent to close the day at UGX 810.00. Today’s total volume was recorded at 744,629 shares and total turnover was recorded at UGX 314.91mn.

Zambia: The Lusaka Stock Exchange All Share Index closed at 6,149.86 points down by 0.68% in comparison to the previous close of 6,192.23 points . Price movements were recorded in REIZ-(K0.02) and ZANACO-(K0.02). Trading was also recorded in ATEL, BATA, CEC, MFIN and ZAMBEEF. A total of 10,136.502 shares were traded in 15 trades resulting in a total turnover of K31,079,326. The market capitalization was recorded at K65,570,000,000, including Shoprite Holdings Plc, and K31,330,000,000 excluding Shoprite Holdings Plc.

Zimbabwe: The Industrial index retreated by 0.82 points (0.49%) to close at 167.94 points. The losers are: Econet Wireless Limited, Edgars Stores Limited and Hippo Valley Estate fell by a cent each to close at 54 cents, 8.50 cents and 49 cents respectively. The losses were partially offset by gains in British American Tobacco which increased by 20 cents to 1170 cents, OK Zimbabwe recovered 0.80 cents to 14 cents and Masimba Holdings Limited added 0.25 cents to close at 1.75 cents.  While the Mining index was flat 47.09 points.