HENATES

The only market indicator that closed positive in the week to Friday August 2, 2019 at the Nigerian Stock Exchange was traded value; up a solid 21.9% to N13.889bn from previous week's N11.393bn. The reason was that more of the deals were recorded in high and medium price equities since traded volume declined by 29.4% to 754.862m shares from 1,068.695m previously. In particular, trade in MTN Nigeria shares within the week increased from previous week's 13.201m valued at N1.673bn to 37.060m shares exchanged for N4.710bn, the pace the week's traded value. The number of deals struck in MTN were only slightly higher at 586 compared to 545 previously. The bulk of the MTN all week trade occurred on Friday with 101 deals for 25.367m shares worth N3.222bn while MTN led price drops with N2.05 or 1.59% per share. However, MTN Nigeria only led the market in traded value and did not in fact appear among top 5 by any other market indicator. Instead, once again Guaranty Trust Bank and Zen...

It was a positive day on Wednesday April 24, 2019 after no change recorded on Tuesday at the Ghana stock exchange. The Composite Index not only closed up, above average traded volume on Tuesday was surpassed as well. The GCI ended the day at 2395.37 up 3.4 points on Tuesday's 2391.97 as 3 price gains and only one drop was recorded. The lone decline was by Enterprise Ghana as it slipped GHs 0.01 per share to close at last deal price of GHs 2.15 per share compared to GHs 2.16 previously. Fam Milk closed up Ksh 0.2 per share , to lead price gainers. It had closed at last deal price of GHs 8 per share compared to GHs 7.8 per share on Tuesday Ghana Commercial Bank gained GHs0.04 per share  as it closed at last deal price of GHs 4 per share compared to GHs 3.96 on Tuesday GCB had recorded day high traded volume of 315,400 shares but closed with bid and offer moving further apart at GHs 3.96 and 4.5 per share respectively. The last price was also GHs 0.02 per share by Total ...

Which way for the All share index at Nairobi stock market was clearly a tug of war of sorts on Wednesday April 24, 2019 between price losers and gainers. Eventually, the gainers had the upper hand as the ASI rose by 0.24 points to 158.89 in spite of more price losers than gainers. There were 26 price drops compared to 15 gains and top 5 of decline was crowded as well but the ASI closed up on the back of equities with high market capitalisation. Leading price drop was by Limuru Tea as it closed at Ksh 450 per share, down Ksh 47.75 when compared  to Ksh 497.75 per share on Tuesday. There were other major price drops too. Williamson Tea shed Ksh 5 per share; Stanbic Holdings declined by Ksh 4 per share;  East African Portland Cement lost Ksh 1.85 per share and Diamond Trust Bank eased by Ksh 2.50 per share. On the other hand, British American Tobacco led price gains with Ksh 19 per share or 3.49% rally from Tuesday's dive while ex-div. It had crashed by the same margin on Tu...

At the Nigerian stock exchange, the two highest priced equities are Nestlé Nigeria and Seplat Petroleum so when their prices tumble, something must give. It did on Wednesday April 24, 2019 as leading tumble by both of them dragged the All share index down 0.59% to 29,898.31. This was despite more positive mood of the market which resulted in 21 price gains and 14 drops. The pressure downwards was even easier to apply because only one out of the 21 price gains was major while the 2 blue chips were joined by 3 other drops on the top 5 scale. Nestlé shed N30 or 1.90% per share  while witnessing 28 deals for 0.162m shares worth N250.701m. On the other hand, Seplat dropped by N25 or 4.39% per share in 19 deals through which 0.032m units were exchanged for N17.446m. The market leading price gainer on Tuesday was 11 PLC as it closed up N4.9 per share. On Wednesday, however, it shed to same amount or 2.72% per share while 0.050m of its shares were traded for  N8.754m. The 2 other m...

The Group Financial Officer for Ecobank Transnational Incorporated Greg Davis, has affirmed that the group's $450m euro bond issued at the London Stock Exchange main market was oversubscribed. In a notice He issued on Thursday before the Easter, Davis failed to give the % oversubscription but confirmed that it was embraced globally by investors from the UK, US, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Africa. The 5 year unsecured note was issued at 9.5% interest rate payable semiannually in areas. The money was raised for general  corporate purposes, added Davis and for refinancing of existing obligations. He quoted the Group CEO, Ade Adeyemi as saying of the bond's successful outing: "This is first for Ecobank and I am excited at the prospects of the group as we continue to the second phase of our 5 year roadmap to leadership strategy". On his part, Davis described it as a reflection of the appetite of high quality and real money institutional investors globally and...

Not one equity recorded any price change at Ghana Stock Exchange on Tuesday April 23, 2019 after the easter break. This was despite trade recorded in quoted companies for above average total daily traded volume. With the no change, top price equity in the market remained Standard Chartered Bank which closed at GHs 19 per share. This was also SCB's lowest price in a year and in spite of witnessing 2nd highest traded volume of 10,750 shares worth leading GHs 204,250 on Tuesday at the firm price. Its top price for the was GHs 21.44 per share. Two other equities were also priced in double digit: Unilever Ghana also closed at year low of GHs 17.69 per share and high of GHs 17.78 while Toluworks has been firm at GHs 11.94 per share through the year  Both recorded no deals. A total of 166,822 shares were traded compared to 144,651 on Thursday with MTN Ghana accounting for 150,000 units traded at firm GHs 0.7 per share in that the minute GHs 0.001 per share gain recorded, did not...

Relatively low investors interest at the Nairobi Securities Exchange persisted on Tuesday April 23, 2019 after the easter holidays. The number of deals struck once again fell below 1000 considered average. It closed at 943 making it 3 consecutive trading days below after almost 2 weeks run was punctuated on Tuesday last week. Traded volume continued to be fairly low too although on Tuesday there was an increase to 14.556m shares valued at Ksh 530.414m compared to 10.680m units worth Ksh 429.614m on April 18, 2019. So dry in fact that between banking sector and Safaricom above 90% of traded value was accounted for. The banking sector was responsible for Ksh 372m traded value or 70.23% with KCB Group leading the sector and market as 6.992m of its shares were exchanged for Ksh 314m at between Ksh 44.80 and 45.20 per share. Equity Group also chipped a bit with deals struck for 1.028m shares worth Ksh 43m while Cooperative Bank, down 1.41%, recorded 432,600 shares traded for Ksh 6...

After going down on Thursday April 18, 2019, to close the 4 day week at 30,086.31, the All share index at the Nigerian stock exchange eased marginally by 0.03% to 30,076.0 on Tuesday after the easter holidays. However, this was despite there being more price gains (20) than losers (17) and in between there were 11 price changes too minor to matter. The ASI declined too occurred in spite of N2 or 1.06% per share increase the share price of Dangote Cement, the market's leader by capitalisation. DangCem closed with the 2nd highest gain while recording 21 deals for 0.037m shares worth N6.625m. The lead gain was recorded by 11 PLC ( erstwhile Mobil Nigeria) as it found and closed at N179.9 per share, up N4.9 or 2.8% on April 18's N175 per share. The only other major price gainer was Dangote Flour up N1.05 or 9.81% per share in 145 deals involving 8.861m shares worth N97.960m. Other top 5 price gainers were FBN Holdings up  N0.35 or 4.58% per share and Vitafoam which clos...

The year 2018 ended with a huge claim on Britam Holdings PLC which it could not absorb: Loss of Ksh 6.90 on each Ksh 100 income within the year. This compares very unfavourably with profit of Ksh 2.69 on each Ksh 100 income in 2017. Britam Holdings is one company with very many sources of income but in 2018 all the major streams failed to deliver the goods. Gross Premium had increased by 4.43% to Ksh 24,325.1m but 8.78% growth in reinsurance to Ksh 3263.5m reduced the final  earned premium  to Ksh 21,061.7m, up only 3.76%. With this marginal growth in its core income, and relatively poor performance from some other streams, total income ended up by only 1.91% to Ksh 32,748.2m. The further slow down came from 25.5% decline in Other income to Ksh 195.1m; 16.5% decrease in property income to Ksh 507.2m and 13.1% drop in fund management fees to Ksh 661.1m Growth in other income streams were fairly OK but not good enough to counter the downward pull of the poor streams. For ex...

The bond market was more active and equity just barely up at the Nairobi Securities Exchange as the 4-day week drew to a close on Thursday April 18, 2019. At the bond market, traded value closed the week at Ksh 19bn in spite of holy day on Friday compared to Ksh 13bn the previous 5 day week. The high point of the 4 days was Monday when 88 deals worth Ksh 6.34bn was recorded and it continued to ease down daily after that. It dropped to Ksh 5.416bn in 78 deals on Tuesday; Ksh 4.423bn  in 79 deals on Wednesday before closing at Ksh 3.167bn in 88 deals by Thursday. Trading activity during the 4 days at the bond segment was clearly in contrast to traded volume and value at the equity segment which dropped to 34.6m shares worth Ksh 1.2bn compared to 78.7m shares worth Ksh 2.3bn the previous week. Traded volume through the week did not 12m shares any day of the 4 days with top line being 11.451m shares traded in 1050 deals worth Ksh 290.348m on Tuesday and hit week low on Wednesday ...

Propelled by more positive outlook, the Nigerian Stock Exchange ended 4 day week on Thursday with the All share index up 1.74% on previous week's level. It closed Thursday, the last trading day because of Easter Holidays, at 30,086.31, up 0.39% on Wednesday's 29,970.86. The week had taken off with 0.14% drop to 29518.85 on Monday but recovered from then on till the week's end. It rose to 29746.2 on Tuesday then further to 29970.86 by Wednesday. The Thursday rally was driven by Dangote Cement as it paced 25 price gains that overwhelmed 13 price drops even though margins of drop were higher. DangCem was the sole equity with up to N1 per share as it rose at this bar or 0.53% per share to close at N188 per share after hitting day high of N190 and low of N189 per share compared to N188 on Wednesday. DangCem witnessed 37 deals through which 0.291m shares were exchanged for N55.166m. As a matter of fact, 17 more price gains were recorded within the day but they were to...

At the Ghana Stock Exchange, the composite index closed Thursday April 18, 2018 at 2391.97 compared to 2401.18 on Wednesday. By implication, because Friday is a holiday, the GCI dropped by 0.58% in a 4 day week when compared 2405.82 with which it closed on Friday April 12, 2019. Through the 4 days, the GCI only rallied once on Wednesday April 17 to 2401.11. It dropped to 2400.35 on Monday then eased some to 2396.18 on Tuesday   before the exceptional rise on Wednesday. Thus the low for the week was Friday's 2391.97 and it was recorded as 4 price drops and 1 gain occurred The lone price gain was by Ghana Commercial Bank while recording exchange of 6500 shares valued at GHs 25,740. GCB closed at the last deal price of GHs 3.96 per share up GHs 0.01 on GHs 3.95 per share on Friday.What's more, it may gain more next because offer price jumped to GHs 4.5 per share after the last deal. Top price loss was Ecobank Ghana's GHs 0.2 per share recorded as it closed at the l...

On Wednesday April 17 2018, the Ghana Composite index at the Ghana Stock Exchange finally recovered from days of closing down but as price gainers and losers came to 2 and 3 respectively. The GCI closed at 2401.11 up on 2396.18 on Tuesday and compared to 2400.35 on Monday. Of the price loserss, Standard Chartered Bank paced with GHs 0.5 per share decline as its 160 shares were traded at GHs 19 per share as against GHs 19.5 on Tuesday.  This was a new low for SCB but offer price edged upwards by day's end to GHs 19.49 per share leading to mismatch as bid stayed firm at the closing price. Ghana Commercial Bank shed GHs 0.013 per share to close at  GHs 3.95 per share after recording deals for 2600 units at GHs 3.96 per share with which it closed the previous day. However, the gap between offer and bid prices widened resulting in mismatch of GHs 3.9 per share on bid and 3.96 on offer. The other price drop was by Guinness Ghana as 100 of its shares were traded at GHs 2.18 per share, dow...

Inflation rate in Nigeria is still not in a hurry to drop below 11% year on year. According to figures for March on Composite Price index released by the National Bureau of Statistics, by March 2019 the all items inflation rate eased to 11.25 % year on year compared to 11.31% in February The good news apparently is that it is going down at least after leaping to all time high during 2016 depression and early 2017 till it started dropping  January 2017. For a while the decline was fairly high but it has become a very slow decrease since May 2018 when it finally crossed from the 12% range to 11%. The March easing was driven other items except food the index of which actually rose to 13.5% year on year from February's 13.47%. Urban inflation also continues to be above the national average and in March says the NBS, it was 11.54% year on year though lower than February's 11.59%. In contrast, rural index by March stood at 10.99% year on year compared to 11.05% previously...

At the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Wednesday April 17, 2019 top priced Nestle Nigeria paced market gains for the 2nd day thus helping to drive the All share market index up Nestle added N79.7 or 5.31% per share to close at N1580 per share after day low of N1575 representing all day rise from Tuesday's closing N1500.3 per share. This was as Nestle recorded 84 deals for rare 0.932m shares for leading N1.472bn. Earlier on Tuesday, it had more or less done a solo with a lone above N1 per share price change through a N48.1 or 3.31% per share top up. In other words, in 2 days it gain a total of N127.8 per share while recording rare exchange of above 1m shares. In traded value, Nestle thus accounted for almost  50% of the N3.227bn realised by investors on Wednesday from exchange of 216.012m shares in 4025 deals compared to 2979 deals for 321.357m shares valued at N4.657bn on Tuesday. In terms of both number of deals and volume, however, the lead was by Access Bank, up N0.6 or 9...

After raising hopes for more above average number of deals on Tuesday, April 16, the Nairobi Securities Exchange closed Wednesday April 17 back in below average deals. It recorded only 820 deals compared to 1050 on Tuesday which was more of a relief from 9 continuous days of closing below 1000 deals up to Monday. Besides, the low deals were struck for the exchange of equally lowly 5.517m shares for Ksh 273.807m compared to 11.451m shares traded on Tuesday for Ksh 290.348m. Virtually every sector was relatively dry although traded value was boosted by deals recorded in Diamond Trust Bank; East African Breweries Stanbic Holdings and Jubilee Holdings. DTB witnessed rare 993,200 shares traded at between Ksh 123 and 125 per share for a total worth of Ksh 124m. It thus contributed the bulk of the Ksh 173m traded value or 63.37% of market total recorded by the banking sector. In the same sector, Stanbic Holdings also recorded rare exchange of 78,300 of its shares for Ksh 7.9m while ...

On all counts, the Ghana Stock Exchange remained low on Tuesday April 16, 2019 except in quantum trade which closed above average. Compared to Monday when 7 equities recorded deals for the day, Tuesday's 6 was low but not in terms of traded volume. On Monday, only 35,022 shares were traded compared to 244,354 shares on Tuesday especially as daily average was around 100,000 shares. However, Ghana Composite Index, continued to slide shedding 4.17 points to 2396.18 from Monday's 2400.35 unlike 5.48 points drop on Monday itself compared to Friday. This time there were only 3 recognised price changes and all were downwards. MTN Ghana actually lost GHs 0.001 per share but technically that amounted to firm close at GHs 0.69 per share because the loss was too minute. However, this was after leading 212,000 of its shares worth GHs 146,019 were traded at GHs 0.68 per share and it was indeed at this price offer ended the day, pointing at possible decline next trading. Top pr...

Nestlé Nigeria, yet in one of those leaps it is known for, on Tuesday April 16, 2019 almost single handedly drove the All share index at the Nigerian stock exchange up 0.85% to 29,746.24. Sure, the day closed twice as many price gains as there were price drops ( 24 to 10) and additional 15 gains too minor to record; Nestle it was that lone ranged with the only above N1 per share price change for the day. Being the highest priced equity in the market although with relatively low issued share capital, it thus was in a position to move the ASI its way aided by other price gainers Nestle Nigeria leapt by N48.1 or 3.31% per share to close at day high N1500.3 per share after a low of N2500.1 compared to Monday's N1452.2 per share. In terms of trade though, volume recorded at 0.145m shares was not much but it taken in 52 deals worth N218.012m. Interestingly, Nestle paced price drops the previous day, Monday with N3.8 or 0.26% per share drop while recording 29 deals for 0.241m sh...

Since this month, investors interest as expressed by number of deals struck has been rather lukewarm at Nairobi Securities Exchange. Come Tuesday, April 16, are the investors renewing interest? May be. At least after 9 trading days of closing with below 1000 deals struck in the market, on Tuesday it  climbed back above this mark as 1050 deals were recorded. Indeed, since the month, above 1000 was recorded only twice; the other trading in April being 2nd when 1075 deals were sealed. Closest to the 1000 mark was April 10th's 996 deals followed by 946 on the 9th while the lowest was 437 deals struck on April 1, 2019. On Monday, the market closed with the 3rd lowest deals of 784 after Friday's 795, the 4th lowest. It remains to be seen the Tuesday above 1000 was just a punctuation as it happened on April 2nd before the 9 days below. Traded volume and value also recovered but still below average as 11.451m shares were exchanged for Ksh 290.348m compared to 7.038m worth K...

The bond market came alive at Nairobi Securities Exchange on Monday April 15, 2019 as the equities segment was more low key. A total of Ksh 6.34bn worth of bonds were traded in 88 deals as against just Ksh 0.972bn in 58 deals on Friday. Most active in terns of value, as usual were government stocks with nominal value above Ksh 50m although those below Ksh 50m with deals were more in number. There were 14 of below Ksh 50m nominal value with deals but highest traded value was Ksh 27m. On the other hand, there were 11 stocks with deals among those with above Ksh 50m nominal value and top was Ksh 1.45bn worth traded in 15 year In structure Bond issued in 2012. Sell or buy back also active closing with deals in one stock valued at Ksh 500m and there was no activity in corporate bonds. The bond rally turned out to be good tonic for the day because at the equities segment, traded value, volume and number of deals declined into leaner levels when compared to Friday. A total of 78...