African Stocks: Nigeria Gains Most in Two Years; Kenya Slides

By Paul Okolo and Janice Kew

Sept. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Nigeria's main stock index rose the most in two years last week after the government announced measures to halt the bourse's five-month decline. Stanbic IBTC Bank Plc led the gain.

Kenya's key gauge dropped for the first time in three weeks, while the main Mauritian index fell for a third week. Ghana posted its 56th straight weekly gain.

Nigeria's All-Share Index surged 7.7 percent to 47,789.20, the biggest weekly advance since Aug. 18, 2006. Stanbic IBTC rose 24 percent to 12.14 naira.

Shares in the west African nation rallied from Aug. 27, the day after the government capped daily share-price declines at 1 percent, from 5 percent previously. Share prices are still allowed to gain a maximum of 5 percent, the state-owned Nigerian Television Authority reported Aug. 26, citing Finance Minister Shamsudeen Usman.

The Nigerian index has dropped 18 percent this year, following speculation the central bank wanted to end the practice of lending money to investors to buy shares, which the bank denied.

In Kenya, the NSE 20 index fell 2.6 percent to 4,648.78. Crown Berger Ltd., Kenya's only publicly traded paint maker, paced the drop. Crown lost almost half of its market value, sliding 47 percent to 19.75 Kenyan shillings.

Kakuzi Ltd., an agricultural-plantations company that is majority-owned by Camelia Plc, lost 16 percent to 29.25 shillings. Kakuzi posted a wider loss of 38 million shillings in the six months through June, from a 23.4 million shilling loss in the same period a year earlier.

Mauritius's Semdex Index retreated 1.1 percent to 1,655.84. Sun Resorts Ltd., owner of four hotels in Mauritius, tumbled 7 percent to 77 rupees. Mauritius Commercial Bank Ltd., the Indian Ocean island's biggest lender, lost 1 percent to 153 rupees.

Ghana's All-Share Index climbed 0.7 percent to 10,790.95. Botswana Stock Exchange's Domestic Company Index added 1.7 percent to 7,736.75. The Namibia Stock Exchange's Overall Index rose 2.9 percent to 841.

To contact the reporters on this story: Paul Okolo in Lagos pokolo@bloomberg.net; Janice Kew in Johannesburg at jkew1@bloomberg.net.