The Analyst | - Part 4

How to make the most of strong trends with breakouts

WITH trends picking up steam over the last couple of months, we have seen the return of an old and familiar trading strategy: breakouts. The breakout was one of the first trading techniques I learned and it’s one of the easiest to understand. The idea is that the price trend of the asset we want to trade will remain in place. When the trend is bullish, we should buy when price breaks out above a…

This week on the frontiers: Nigeria grabs fund managers’ attention

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Within the past week, Nigeria postponed its presidential election, begged for more international help in fighting Boko Haram, saw its currency plumb a new record low, and joined a list of countries that ratings agency Standard & Poor’s is poised to downgrade. The impact on investors? They’re starting to like what they see. Michael Levy, manager of Barings’ $50m frontier markets fund, says the country’s market is starting to be “extremely cheaply valued”. In an…

The Davos Challenge: bikes for school children in SA

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When was the last time you walked 6km to work or school? Did you know that this is the average daily distance to school for half a million students in South Africa? This past week, participants at the World Economic Forum took part in “The Davos Challenge: Walk for Education” by having their steps tracked with electronic pedometers. For every 6km walked, UBS and the UBS Optimus Foundation donated a bicycle for school children in…

Nigerian Equity: When and What to Buy/Sell

Posted on by The Editorial Team

The Nigerian Stock Exchange, Lagos, Nigeria The markets are strongly correlated to global crude oil prices and explains the sustained sell-off we have witnessed in the markets. Crude oil accounts for 75% of the country’s revenue and 95% of foreign exchange. With prices falling, reserves are under pressure and the ability of the CBN to continue to stabilize the naira is at risk. The capital markets are largely driven by foreign portfolio investors who account…

The Resilience that African Economies Have Built Over the Past 15 Years is Real

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Donald Kaberuka, president, African Development Bank At the dawn of 2015, the question being asked frequently is: Are the good times over for much of Africa? Can the decade-long momentum be sustained, given the Ebola epidemic; the chronic crises in Central African Republic; South Sudan; the sharp fall in commodity prices; and a slowdown in the emerging markets, etc? In a sense it is déjà vu. The same question was asked in the aftermath of…

Surge in dollar-debt leaves some African nations exposed

Posted on by The Editorial Team

A surge in foreign debt issuance by African nations has left some fragile economies exposed to the risk of billions of dollars in foreign exchange related losses if the U.S. currency strengthens abruptly, a think-tank said on Wednesday. Judith Tyson, senior researcher at the Overseas Development Institute (ODI), said the notional losses in terms of higher interest and capital repayments could total $11 billion (£7 billion) in the event of a slump of 35 percent…

2015 Sub-Saharan Africa’s Equity Market Outlook

Posted on by The Editorial Team

Equity Market overview In 2014, Sub Saharan African (SSA) equity market performance was mixed. The East African markets generally performed well, led by Tanzania (+22.7%), Uganda (+14.1%) and Kenya (+13.3%). Rwanda declined by 4.5%. Similarly, most markets were up in Southern Africa, with the exception of Zimbabwe which declined 19.5%. In West Africa, Nigeria and Ghana performed poorly in 2014. The Ghanaian equity market was up in local currency but declined 31.9% on currency devaluation….

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