Local investors are now driving most of the trading at the Nairobi Securities Exchange, with their share surpassing 70% in September 2025 and averaging about 70% for Q3.
- •Foreign investors remain active at the NSE but now account for a smaller share of total trading as local activity expands.
- •The latest data from the Capital Markets Authority shows this is the highest local participation since August 2010, when foreign trading last fell below 30%, underscoring a broadening of domestic market activity.
- •CMA data also shows average foreign participation fell from 57% in 2022 to 48% in 2023, and to about 38% in 2025, even though total quarterly turnover remained robust at KSh 46.2 billion in Q3.
Rather than a withdrawal, the data suggests stronger local participation, Kenyans accounted for nearly two-thirds of all market turnover during the quarter. September’s rally lifted domestic activity to 71.99%, the strongest reading since 2010.
Several structural reforms have made equities more accessible.
- •The NSE’s single-share trading rule, introduced in mid-2025, removed the 100-share minimum lot size, lowering entry costs for retail investors.
- •Expanded digital brokerage access and mobile trading platforms have further widened reach.
- •The exchange is also running its Virtual Investing Challenge from September to December 2025, which has attracted 7,400 participants, more than double the 3,140 who took part in 2024. The program aims to introduce young Kenyans to stock investing and build market literacy.
- •In October 2025, the NSE launched a Digital Academy to support investor education, with over 500 signups in its first week.
- •Institutional investors, pension funds, SACCOs, and asset managers, are also trading more actively as local confidence builds and Treasury-bill yields ease.
The result is a market powered by rising local engagement rather than foreign retreat, marking the NSE’s most inclusive trading phase in 15 years.
