Shares in African Bank Investment Ltd (Abil) lost three percent in volatile early tradeafter news the group’s year- endearnings would not be as bad as the market had anticipated.
Traders explained that shares were seeing bouts of profit-taking after a rather upbeat session yesterday.
”The share is seeing a lot of volatility following the announcement they made about the likely impact on their earnings. It is not as bad as people expected and I think guys are trying to price the share now,” one dealer on the Johannesburg bourse said.
Abil, one of South Africa’s four key microlending institutions, said it expected to see a 250 million rand cut in its after-tax profits for the year to September 30, 2001 as a result of the government’s decision to stop all direct loan deductions from the public service payroll on December 31, 2000.- Reuters