JULY 10, 2018: TOP UP EASIER AT NAIROBI, NIGERIAN, GHANA SEs?

Was it that easy for listed companies to increase price per share at Nairobi, Nigerian and Ghana Stock markets Tuesday, July 10?

NAIROBI SECURITIES EXCHANGE:

YES, IT WAS IN A WAY.....

At the Nairobi Securities Exchange, it was easier for record price gains on Tuesday July 10 2018 and so, even with heavyweight Safaricom closing firm, the All share index rose by 0.24 points to 174.16.

This was on the back of 17 price gains as against 11 drops unlike Monday, July 9 when 17 drops and 19 gains were recorded ( including Safaricom's top up that helped grow ASI by 0.97%).

The gainers were paced by Standard Group in the commercial and allied sector up Ksh 2.50 per share and followed by the duo of KCB Group in banking and Sanlam in insurance with Ksh 1.25 per share top up each.

On the other hand, the price losers were led by yet another pair, this time of Williamson Tea in agricultural sector and Total Kenya (energy and petroleum) with Ksh 2 per share decline each.

They were trailed by another pair: Standard Chartered Bank and East African Breweries down Ksh 1 per share each.

You could say that the insurance and banking sectors were bullish within the day. This was because all the 4 price changes recorded in insurance, were gains while 5 out of 7 price changes in the banking sector were upwards.

Trading stayed on the recovery path with traded volume rising to 14.549m shares from 13.033m; traded value ending at Ksh 514.819m compared to Ksh 394.34m previously and number of deals coming to 1183 from 1100.

Top traded volume was in Safaricom as deals were struck for 5.69m shares but the banking sector dominated traded value with Ksh 294m or 57.06%.

Leading the banks were KCB Group, with deals for 3.916m shares at between Ksh 48 and 49.25 per share worth Ksh 194m and Equity Group, up Ksh 0.05 per share, as 1.732m shares changed hands for Ksh 84.7m.

Rare trade was recorded in Car and General ltd as it witnessed deals for 104,500 units without a change in price.

The bond market did not sustain tempo as traded value closed at Ksh 2.07bn in 73 deals as against Ksh 2.286bn on July 9, 2018.

NIGERIAN STOCK EXCHANGE:

...NO, PRICE GAIN NOT EASIER

At first glance, the Nigerian stock market was rather bearish on Tuesday July as 27 price drops were far more than 12 price gains and so, the All share index dropped by 0.60% to 37,422.84.

But interestingly, there were no price drops that were so marginal and could not be recorded whereas the day ended with 18 gains that were too marginal to be noted as price change.

Decoded: 30 equities had potential for price gain but only 17 were high enough to be noted. That indeed, raises eyebrows over the nature of the day.

But real price was so scarce only Forte Oil up N2.7 or 9.94% per share, closed the day with above N1 per share gain.

Forte Oil witnessed 135 deals involving 0.953m shares worth N27.31m as it closed at day high of N29.85 per share after hitting low of N28.8 though both represented gains on Monday's N27.15 per share.

On the other hand, both Seplat Petroleum and Total Nigeria paced price losers with double digit drops per share.

Top drop was Seplat's N15 or 2.81% decline accompanied by 13 deals for 0.018m units worth N11.745m followed by Total Nigeria, down N10 or 4.76% per share while closing with 14 deals involving 0.443m shares valued at N88.866m.

Three other equities still lost noteworthy amounts: La  Farge Africa went down by N2.25 or 5.92% per share; Guaranty Trust Bank lost N1.4 or 3.37% per share and Nigerian Brewerie eased by N1.1 or 0.99% per share.

However, because Monday July 9 trading was lowest in months, it was easy to recover from as traded volume rose to 213.2m shares from 155.17m; traded value ended at N3.76bn compared to N1.99bn previously and number of deals increased to 4043 from 3422.

Zenith Bank paced all three trade indicators with 363 deals for 39.933m shares worth N965.088m while closing down N0.1 per share.

GHANA STOCK EXCHANGE:

YEA,  EASIER TOO

At the Ghana Stock Exchange, Tuesday July 10, 2018; yes it was easier too to record price gains and this drove the Ghana Composite Index upwards.

The index closed at 2943.15, up 16.99 points or 0.58% as 4 price changes were recorded, out of which only one closed down.

What made a big difference was Ecobank Ghana's GHc 0.48 per share gain as 500 shares were sold at GHc 8.40 per share. More deals could have been struck but for the mismatch between GHc 7.50 bid price and GHc 8.50 per share offer price.

The other price gains were Ghana Commercial Bank's and Produce Company ltd's GHc 0.03 and GHc 0.01 per share respectively.

GCB witnessed deals for 3900 units at GHc 5 per share but could not record more deals because there were no new offers even though bid price stayed at that level.

PBC recorded exchange of 10,000 shares at GHc 0.04 per share and offer price moved slightly up to close the day at GHc 0.05 per share.

The lone price drop was by Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, the parent company of Ecobank Ghana and other subsidiaries.

It dropped GHc 0.01 per share as deals were struck at GHc 0.21 per share for its 143,600 shares which dominated trading for the day. ETI eventually closed at GHc 0.22 and 0.21 per share offer and bid price respectively.

A total of 7 other listed companies witnessed deals within the day including CAL Bank's 20,000 shares exchanged at GHc 1.30 per share and Ghana Oil company's deals for 13,200 units at firm GHc 4 per share.

Six equities closed on offer, 12 on bid and 8 with offer and bid prices that didn't match.

At 207,550 shares, the day's traded volume was slightly lower than Monday July 9's 263,373 units.