Kenol Kobil stock registered the highest liquidity at the NSE in the past year. The energy company had a liquidity ratio of 58.4%. Most trading of the stock occurred in October after the announcement of acquisition plans by Rubis Energie.
Equity Bank came in second with a liquidity ratio of 21.01%. Other companies that recorded high trading volume in comparison to their market value are Carbacid, KCB Group, Scan Group, KPLC, Home Africa, NSE, and HFCK.
There was suppressed trading at the exchange with an estimated 85% of companies registering little or no trading at all. Companies with the highest turnover in 2018 are; Safaricom, Equity Bank, KCB, Kenol Kobil, EABL, Co-op Bank, BAT, Diamond Trust Bank, Barclays Bank, and Bamburi Cement. These ten companies contributed 90% of the total annual market turnover.
Despite the low trading activity at the NSE in 2018, the exchange has recorded remarkable growth in the past decade. Market capitalisation rose by 40% to Ksh2.102 trillion in 2018 from Ksh854 billion in 2008 .
The number of companies listed increased by 22% to 67 firms from 55 firms. Additionally, the value of annual equity trades rose 80% to Ksh175.7 billion from Ksh97.5 billion.
