The 20 Share index at the Nairobi Securities Exchange closed at 2,586 points on Friday, the lowest close since March 2009. The decline has been attributed to weak financial results by some of the listed counters. Additionally, foreign investors have been exiting the market in the past few months leading to the downward trend in index performance.
The 20 Share index reflects the performance of a selected top 20 companies at the bourse. Some of the counters on the index are; Diamond Trust Bank, NIC Group, Standard Chartered Bank, Nation Media Group, WPP Scan Group, Kenya Re, and Safaricom. Since the start of 2019, the 20 Share index has dropped by 7 percent. The All Share Index and the 25 Share Index have also recorded a dip in performance in the past month.
Most listed companies have been posting weak results in the last two years. In 2018, ten firms issued profit alerts. More businesses are expected to give profit warnings in 2019. The poor performance has been blamed on limited access to credit and tough operating conditions.
