Nigeria leads African performance during November

Nigeria’s All Share Index was the month’s top performer of the basket of 11 African indices we report on, and the third-best performer for the year so far after Ghana and Zimbabwe.

Nigeria gained 3.45%, lifting its year-to-date performance to 38.61%, or approximately 36.54% in US dollar terms, while Ghana’s GSE Composite Index added 1.14% in November and by month’s end was up an impressive 77.02% for the year – or approximately 48.3% in US dollars.

Zimbabwe’s Industrials Index climbed 2.62% for the month, according to figures published by Africa Weekly, pushing its year-to-date gains to 41.23%. The market has seen significant growth in turnover, buoyed by foreign investment concentrated on consumer stocks. Zimbabwe’s Mining Index, on the other hand, was down approximately 30.13% for the year as at December 2, 2013.

The Lusaka All Share in Zambia has also performed well in 2013 rising 1.94% during November and extending its year-to-date gains to 36.91%, or 29.36% in USD, according to Africa Weekly.

Kenya’s NSE 20 added 2.16% for the month and was up 23.42% for the year. Telecoms company Safaricom has been one of the continent’s best-performing blue-chip stocks in 2013, gaining 117.8% to the end of November.

Botswana’s Gaborone Index added 1.5% in November and was up 17.9% year to date.

Egypt’s EGX 30 inched up 0.04% in November and was 13.21% higher for the year while Morocco’s CFG 25 slipped 0.93% and was up 0.21% for the year. The SEMDEX in Mauritius shed 0.31% in November but was 17.31% in positive territory YTD.

Namibia’s Overall Index was the worst-performing index for the month, down 3.75%, dragging it 0.10% into negative territory for the year. During the month South African utility Eskom, which has been struggling to meet demand, cut off the electricity supply to Namibia.

The TUNINDEX in Tunisia slipped 0.45% for the month, leaving it 2.42% in the red year to date. Copyright. HedgeNews Africa – December 2013.