African Thoughts: June 29, 2015


Nigeria:

It was a better week in terms of activity in Lagos as turnover increased +21.45% to $133.56m while the market closed lower with the ASI falling -1.22%. This should however be taken with a pinch of salt as large block trades in the JBerger, Zenith and Unilever helped boost activity while general market activity remains extremely dull. Banks ended the week in negative territory with the sector falling -1.34% thanks to losses in Access (-5.51%) and UBA (-5.04%). Consumers managed to close higher with the index gaining +0.12% thanks to good performances in Nestle (+4.88%) and Unilever (+1.11%). Last week the CB released a circular disclosing a list of certain goods and services that are no longer valid for accessing the official Nigerian foreign exchange markets. Euro bond, foreign currency bonds & share purchases were amongst these. Please however note that this only applies to local (Nigerians) investors.

Kenya:

The market managed to close higher for a second week in a row in Nairobi with the NSE 20 Index gaining +0.7%, trimming the YTD loss to -5.9%. Another positive was the increase in activity as turnover increased +41.8% to $52.1m thanks to an increase in foreign participation (71.6%) as they remain net sellers on the market. KNCB was the most active name last week and accounted for 36.8% of total activity while NMG recorded the highest net foreign outflows of $1.2m. The highlight of the week was an off-market EQBNK cross whereby Helios sold a 2.44% (ca. 90m shares) stake to NSSF Uganda (the social security fund) at a price of KES 50.00 per share. Helios appears to be disposing its stake in the bank, but in blocks to strategic investors.

Zimbabwe:

Another absolutely dire week in Harare as turnover fell -63.43% to a paltry $1.9m for the entire week. The market also continues to take strain as the Industrial Index fell -2.69%, taking the YTD loss to -8.60%. Seedco, Old Mutual, Delta and Innscor dominated what little activity there was. Unfortunately with such muted activity on the market there is nothing noteworthy to report.

Mauritius:

There was not much on the go in Mauritius last week as the Semdex closed slightly lower and fell -0.1% as foreigners remained net sellers. Activity was also sub-par with turnover amounting to $5.9m as MCBG, SBMH and Sanlam accounted for 72.4% of total value traded. The two major banking stocks ended the week mixed as MCBG gained +0.3% while SBMH fell a rather heavy -4.3%. Hoteliers were also mixed as NMH fell -1.9% while LUX and SUN gained +2.0% and +2.3% respectively.

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