Stocks on the move Real-time Equity News
1211GMT 30Aug10
Kenya's Mumias falls after results
Kenyan sugar miller Mumias Sugar Company share price drops 9.4 per cent to 12.10 kenya shillings ($0.150) ($0.150) after it announces pretax profits lower than market expectations.
The company announced annual pretax profits of 2.18 billion shillings on Thursday, but brokers expected a bigger leap in line with first half results.
'There was a lot of profit taking especially by foreign investors on Thursday (after results were announced), a lot of foreign investors exited,' said George Bodo, research analyst at Genghis Capital.
((Reporting by Wangui in Nairobi))
1131GMT 30Aug10
Dividend seekers to spur Kenya stock market activity
Kenya's main stock index is expected to trade sideways this week but may benefit from investors looking to lock in dividends in companies closing their books soon.
Telecoms firms Safaricom and AccessKenya, Barclays Bank and Bamburi Cement are scheduled to close their books for dividend this week.
'These are purely people who want to cash in on the dividend,' says George Bodo, research analyst at Genghis Capital. 'Generally, I see the market edging upwards in the second half of the week.'
Safaricom is also likely to spur a lot of activity after falling below 5.00 shillings support last week. The operator's shares have come under selling pressure after its closest competitor, Zain, slashed back calling tariffs.
'I'd pay attention to Safaricom. There was increased foreign interest coming in at 4.90,' said Reginald Kadzutu, head of fund management at Amana Capital. 'I expect sideways trading, people taking profit and picking up cheaper shares.'
((Reuters Messaging: helen.nyambura.reuters.com@reuters.net))
0957GMT 30Aug10
Pinnacle Technology up on stronger FY earnings
Shares of Pinnacle Technology rise as much as 6.35 percent after the technology firm says it expects fully diluted headline earnings per share to increase 35-40 percent for the year to end-June.
Pinnacle is trading 5.87 percent higher at 4.87 rand by 0956 GMT, outperforming a 1.6 percent firmer Johannesburg All-share index.
((Reuters Messaging: gugu.lourie.reuters.com@reuters.net))
0940GMT 30Aug10
Chrometco tumbles, restates 3 years of earnings
Shares of Chrometco Ltd tumble more than 9 percent to 10 cents after the South African mining exploration group says it will restate its earnings figures for the past three years, to comply with IFRS accounting standards.
The company says it likely booked a headline loss of 2.8 cents per share for the year to end-February, restated from the 5.4 cents it reported in May.
It also says it booked a headline loss of 0.94 cents per share for the year to end-February 2009, restated from a profit of 3.3 cents.
For the year to end-February 2008, the company says its headline profit totalled 3.39 cents, restated from 3.67 cents.
The company says its accounting treatment of the 2007 sale of a subsidiary did not meet IFRS requirements.
((Reuters Messaging: gugu.lourie.reuters.com@reuters.net))
0850GMT 30Aug10
S.Africa's Impala leads platinum share charge
Platinum miners such as Impala Platinum and Lonmin rise, leading blue-chips higher, as investors begin to return to riskier assets, moving away from gold companies.
'(The local market is driven) by just better market sentiment on the global economic data that looked better in the U.S on Friday,' says Abri du Plessis, chief investment officer at Gryphon Asset Management.
'Gold stocks are pulling back and this is telling you the market is getting less risk averse.'
U.S. stocks rebounded to post their best finish in nearly four weeks on Friday, as investors took a positive view of comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke about the economy and the Fed's readiness to act.
Implats, the world's second-largest producer of the precious metal, is up 3 percent and Lonmin is up 2.2 percent.
The JSE gold mining index is up just 0.32 percent.
The Johannesburg's Top-40 index is up 1.6 percent. The index has dropped about 4 percent so far this year.
((Reuters Messaging: gugu.lourie.reuters.com@reuters.net))
0814GMT 30Aug10 - Resilient Property drops, trades ex
dividend
Resilient Property falls 2.3 percent to 29.90 rand as shares of the property investment fund trade ex-dividend from Monday, or without the right to the latest dividend.
Also trading ex-dividend is steel maker ArcelorMittal South Africa, which falls a little more than 1 percent, and miner AngloGold Ashanti, which is 0.5 percent higher.
((Reuters Messaging: david.dolan.reuters.com@reuters.net))
0753GMT 30Aug10
Bidvest gains after FY earnings up 15 pct
Shares of South Africa's Bidvest rise 1.5 percent to 130.90 rand after the freight and distribution company says full-year earnings rose 15 percent, boosted by stronger demand for cars and food services.
Bidvest, whose businesses include auto retailing, shipping and food distribution, says headline EPS totalled 1,070 cents in the year to end-June, compared with 930 cents in the same period a year earlier. ($1=80.82 Kenyan Shilling) ($1=80.82 Kenyan Shilling) Keywords: MARKETS AFRICA STOCKSNEWS (Reuters Messaging: david.dolan.reuters.com@reuters.net) COPYRIGHT Copyright Thomson Reuters 2010. All rights reserved. The copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters News Content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters.
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