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Wednesday 07th of June 2017 |
Morning Africa |
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If you are tracking the NSE Do it via RICHLIVE and use Mozilla Firefox as your Browser. 0930-1500 KENYA TIME Normal Board - The Whole shebang Prompt Board Next day settlement Expert Board All you need re an Individual stock.
The Latest Daily PodCast can be found here on the Front Page of the site http://www.rich.co.ke |
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Mexico's peso ignores @realDonaldTrump | With no sign of a border wall or a major crackdown on illegal immigration Africa |
Home Thoughts
The Thing about elderly Parents and My Father is 81 is that there are moments of incredible lucidity and luminous thinking and then there are other moments and characters [some long dead] are in his room and I half expect to reach out and touch my Grandfather, Dad's Grandmother, various Uncles like Gulamhuissein and as I enter this spirit World, I recall all these personalities who were all so remarkable in their own right. Gulamhussein Uncle was very good-looking a Bollywood type and is evening tipple was a few tots of Chivas Regal with freshly made somosas.
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Majority of British voters agree with Corbyn's claim UK foreign policy increases risk of terrorism Law & Politics |
An overwhelming majority of people agree with Jeremy Corbyn that British involvement in foreign wars has put the public at greater risk of terrorism, according to a new poll.
The exclusive ORB survey for The Independent found 75 per cent of people believe interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya have made atrocities on UK soil more likely.
The poll – conducted before Saturday night’s devastating attack – comes after Mr Corbyn was lambasted for suggesting foreign policy decisions were linked to terrorism in the UK and that the “war on terror” had failed.
Conclusions
An Epiphany that will propel @jeremycorbyn to #GE2017 success and 10 Downing Street?
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Traders See a Buying Opportunity in Qatar Turmoil Law & Politics |
The nation’s benchmark index of stocks fell to a 16-month low, forward contracts on the riyal that expire within 12-months touched a record high and the extra yield investors demand to hold Qatari bonds over U.S. debt jumped the most in a year on Monday.
Not only have Qatar’s international reserves climbed every month this year through April to $34 billion, it’s home to a $335 billion sovereign wealth fund, among the largest globally. Its debt-to-gross domestic product stood at 56 percent at the end of 2016, compared with 60 percent for the United Arab Emirates, according to Central Intelligence Agency data compiled by Bloomberg.
The decline in the QE Index this week brought the gauge’s loss in 2017 to 13 percent, the worst performance among more than 90 measures tracked by Bloomberg globally. Qatar National Bank, the largest lender in the Middle East, closed on Tuesday at the cheapest relative to emerging-market peers since 2013.
Qatar’s dollar bonds due 2026 fell to 99 cents on the dollar, and five-year credit default swaps climbed to 79 basis points, almost double the contracts for Abu Dhabi’s debt.
Even though the riyal’s 12-month forward contracts jumped to as high as 625 basis points on Tuesday, “betting against the peg is likely a losing proposition,” said Win Thin, the head of emerging-market strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. in New York, who recommends overweight positions in equities in the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, and is underweight Qatari stocks. The nation has pegged the riyal at 3.64 per U.S. dollar since 2001.
“I’m looking past this spat,” Thin said.
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23 MAY 16 :: Qatar Punching Beyond its Size @TheStarKenya Law & Politics |
Today, Qatar is a big player in the region punching far beyond its absolute size (estimates are that there are fewer than 300,000 Qatari citizens) both in terms of hard and soft power. In a geopolitical context, Qatar played a big role in toppling Muammar Gaddafi in Libya and its influence can be seen similarly in the move to remove President Bashar al-Assad in Syria. In foreign policy terms, Qatar has packed a big punch beyond merely hosting the US military at al Udeid air base.
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Gold Makes Run Toward $1,300 as Risk Flares From U.K. to Mideast Commodities |
Gold has surged 13 percent in 2017, eking out gains every month, and a Bloomberg survey this week signaled a further advance. The latest leg up has been supported by an increase in haven demand as U.K. voters head to the polls on Thursday, with the outcome set to dictate how the country handles Brexit. The same day, Comey is scheduled to appear before a Congressional panel to testify about his probe into Donald Trump campaign’s ties to Russia.
“Rising political uncertainty continues to provide support for gold,” Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. said in a note, citing Comey and the U.K. polls. “This comes as the diplomatic crisis in the Middle East involving Saudi Arabia and Qatar intensifies. This has seen a continued rise in safe-haven buying of the precious metal. A weaker dollar is also playing its part.”
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Star Rapper Akon Mulls IPO of His Chinese-Funded African Solar Unit Africa |
Akon, the star rapper and renewable-energy entrepreneur, is considering an initial public offering of his Chinese-funded solar business in Africa to fuel an intercontinental expansion.
“That’s definitely a conversation we’ve had with the financial team on how to structure as we move forward,” Akon said in a telephone interview. “We’ve been moving at a really rapid pace.”
In just three years, the Akon Lighting Africa initiative has completed 203,200 small-scale solar projects including the installation of miniature grids and street lighting across 17 African countries. The financial engine and IPO candidate behind the venture, Solektra International LLC, is owned by its three co-founders, including Akon. Pilot projects in Brazil are already underway with expansion plans for China and India, according to the singer, who said his “dream” is to eventually build a solar farm in the U.S.
Akon, whose full name is Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Bongo Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam, was born in St. Louis and raised in Senegal until the age of seven. He’s produced two multi-platinum albums, been nominated for five Grammy awards and collaborated with stars including Michael Jackson. His music videos have racked up hundreds of millions of views online.
Since releasing his last album seven years ago, Akon’s built his solar business, Akon Lighting Africa, with credit lines of $1 billion from Chinese backers. The venture has structured about $400 million of solar deals to date.
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South Africa slips into recession as economy shrinks in Q1 Africa |
South Africa slipped into technical recession for the first time since 2009 after the economy contracted in the first quarter, led by weak manufacturing and trade sectors, Statistics South Africa said on Tuesday.
Africa's most developed economy contracted by 0.7 percent in the first quarter after shrinking by 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter of last year, the statistics agency said.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected a quarter-on-quarter GDP expansion of 0.9 percent.
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Oman firm buys 40pc of fuel marketer Hass @BD_Africa Kenyan Economy |
Muscat-based Oman Trading International (OTI) is set to acquire a 40 per cent stake in Kenyan oil marketer Hass Petroleum, marking the latest deal in the retail business. Hass says transaction, whose value was not disclosed, will help the company expand in the region including by opening more service stations and participating in capital-intensive open tender bulk import contracts. It is the first acquisition in Africa for OTI, a global commodities trading company fully owned by the government of Oman. OTI will in particular provide technical expertise and financial backing to the Kenyan firm in an industry where scale is increasingly becoming important. “I am convinced that this partnership is a major step in ensuring Hass’ continued competitiveness across the region and I am confident that with OTI we can achieve our mutual long-term growth aspirations,” Abdinasir Ali Hassan, chairman and founder of Hass, said in a statement. The proposed transaction is subject to approval by regulatory authorities in the various countries in which Hass operates in. The company has a market share of about two per in Kenya’s fuel retail market and also exports products to regional markets such as Uganda, Rwanda, and South Sudan. It on top deals in lubricants and liquefied petroleum gas. “We are delighted to move onto the next phase of growth for OTI, agreeing our first major investment into Africa with Hass,” Talal Hamid Al-Awfi, OTI’s chief executive, said in the statement.
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Kenya will offer $750 million in guarantees to Kenya Airways' existing creditors to help the heavily-indebted carrier secure financing from other sources to complete its recovery, a cabinet document showed on Tuesday. Kenyan Economy |
The guarantees, approved by the cabinet, will cover $525 million owed to the U.S. Exim Bank and the rest to local lenders, said the document seen by Reuters.
The airline, partly-owned by Air France KLM and the Kenyan government, has struggled to return to profit after tourist traffic slumped four years ago following a spate of attacks by Somalia-based Islamist militants.
The government will also convert its existing loans to the carrier into equity, it said. It was not immediately clear how much it has lent the carrier, but a source at the airline said it was a "significant" amount lent over time.
The plan to guarantee the existing debt will be taken to the National Assembly for approval, the government said.
"The guarantees would be in exchange for material concessions to be provided as part of the financial restructuring which would secure future funding for the company," the cabinet document said, without giving details on the concessions.
The government would not provide additional cash as part of the restructuring of the airline, it added.
The debt owed to the U.S Exim bank is related to the financing of the purchase of the carrier's Boeing planes.
Kenya Airways says the financial restructuring will involve restructuring debt and securing additional capital to help dig itself out of a position of negative equity, and attain a better balance between cash flow and debt repayments.
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N.S.E Today |
The International markets are transfixed by a Trifecta of events tomorrow ''Super Thursday''. That Trifecta includes the General Election in the United kingdom [where Jeremy Corbyn has made up some ground], the Comey Testimony in the US and the ECB meeting. Gold as been firm as you look and was last at 1290.00 +7.00% Year to date and is a geopolitical proxy. Many Folks believe the epicentre of geopolitical risk is actually Washington. BITCOIN is more than +200% since the beginning of the year. The Blockade of Qatar by its erstwhile GCC allies is also another noteworthy occurrence. Qatar markets have taken a fearful beating. The Nairobi All Share rebounded +0.7% to close at 149.29. The All Share is in a fully fledged bull market and is +11.96% in 2017 and -0.52% below a 22 high reached on 2nd June. The Nairobi NSE20 rallied +0.45% to close at 3472.96 a fresh 10 month closing High. Equity Turnover clocked 863.642m which verified todays bullish drive higher.
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N.S.E Equities - Commercial & Services |
Safaricom bounced +1.13% to close at 22.25 and traded 15,209m shares and will set a fresh record high as early as next week.
The Government of Kenya will offer $750 million in guarantees to Kenya Airways' existing creditors to help the heavily-indebted carrier secure financing from other sources to complete its recovery, a cabinet document showed on Tuesday. The government will also convert its existing loans to the carrier into equity, it said. The plan to guarantee the existing debt will be taken to the National Assembly for approval, the government said. The Key issue for shareholders is around the GOK and any conversion of debt into Equity which will obviously be dilutive. Kenya Airways was if I am not mistaken the first IPO, shareholders have been plenty diluted. Therefore, I think it behoves the Government to skip any debt to equity conversion completely. FY Results confirmed there is light at the end of tunnel and whats certain is that if we really are serious about being a Hub/Transit State in the region, it was a sina qua non that we had to have a functioning and successful airline. This was a National Interest issue. Kenya Airways rebounded +3.00% to close at 6.85 and traded 323,800 shares and I suspect the bounce was on the basis tat the GOK dilution will be designed to be de minimis.
Standard Group corrected -2.79% off a 2017 high to close at 34.75. Standard Group is the best performing share at the Securities Exchange and remains +110.6% in 2017.
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N.S.E Equities - Finance & Investment |
Barclays Bank firmed +1.05% to close at 9.60 a Fresh 2017 closing High. The certainty around the Barclays Africa divestment by Barclays PLC with PIC SA taking up an anchor shareholder position has lent strength to Barclays Bank's share price which is +20.00% over 4 weeks. COOP Bank was heavily traded and closed at 17.50 [+32.57% YTD] and 6.811m shares were traded. NIC Bank firmed +0.75% to close at a 2017 high of 33.25 and traded 1.035m shares. NIC Bank is +32.98% in 2017.
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N.S.E Equities - Industrial & Allied |
KenGen firmed +0.63% to close at a 2017 High of 7.90 and is now +36.20% in 2017. PIC SA has emerged as the No.2 Shareholder after GOK and underpins the price.
EABL has badly lagged the market rebound and today played catch up bouncing +2.14% higher to close at 238.00 and traded 337,000 shares.
Mumias Sugar was uplifted +6.25% to close at 0.85 but remains a penny stock and is -34.61% in 2017.
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