The Ai40 Investor’s Index continues to tumble and not even Egyptian stocks could save it this time: a third straight week of loss saw the Index drop another 3.14 points – a hefty 2.62% down from last week’s close of 119.46. This leaves the Index now wobbling at a current value of 116.32.
Once again, in contrast, a surprisingly strong jobs report gave major US markets another boost that set the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 on course for a seventh straight week of gains, with both closing at record levels yet again. The US economy added 321,000 jobs in November, beating estimates of 86,000.
At Friday’s close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up by 58.69 points, or 0.33%. It ended the session on a value of 17,958.79. The Nasdaq was up by 11.32 points (0.24%) and closed at 4,780.76. The S&P 500 Index gained 3.45 points, or 0.17%, to end the week on a value of 2,075.37.
Gainers
Kenya’s mobile network provider Safaricom tops the table this week, riding high after the company launched Kenya’s first fourth generation (4G) Internet service. The Kenyan government hopes to increase the Internet’s contribution to economic growth in the mobile-network friendly country. Safaricom ended the week up 7.2%. Another telecoms company, this time from Egypt – Mobinil – was in second place with a 5.1% gain. The company recently announced a partnership with Ericsson that will see them provide enhanced data services in the country.
Kenya’s East African Breweries took the third spot with a jump of 4.9% and two more Egyptian companies, Commercial International Bank and real estate firm TMG Holding, took fourth and fifth position with gains of 2.7% and2.6% respectively.
Losers
Nigeria dominated the loser’s list once again. The drop in oil prices is affecting the Nigerian economy in particular: according to Nigeria’s Business Day, the NSE All Share Index “is in negative territory and has declined by 19.6% YtD this year to 33,228.29 points.” First Bank Nigeria was the week’s worst performer this session; it dropped 12.6% and was closely followed by another Nigerian bank, Zenith Bank, which dropped 11.4%. Brewer Guinness Nigeria bookended the bottom five list with a loss of 8.7%.
The price of Brent crude oil has fallen 38% since the end of June and South Africa’s oil and gas giant Sasol is also feeling the effects – it dropped 9.4%. Elsewhere, BRVM-listed Ecobank dropped 9.0%.
For more on the Ai40 Index, please visit the Africa investor website at www.africainvestor.com
