The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) recorded a dip in the number of retail investors in the first quarter of this year, despite its best efforts to grow the list of individual investors at the exchange.
According to the CMA Quarterly Statistical bulletin for the first quarter of 2021, retail investors decreased by 1,559 in the three months through March 2021 to 1,961,339.
The number of local retail investors, who form the largest group of investors at the NSE, declined to 1,939,060, from 1,940,651 at the start of the quarter. Individual investors from the East African region stood at 8,348 while individual investors from beyond the East African region (international retail investors) were 13,648 at the end of March 2021.
According to the Capital Markets Authority report, the number of male investors at the NSE was twice the number of female investors. In the three months to March 2021, male investors at the NSE were 1,036,413 while female investors were 533,093. Shares held by male investors (8,152,541,812) were three times the number of shares held by female investors (2,566,384,593).
The number of corporate investors at the Nairobi Securities Exchange also dipped in the quarter under review. Local corporate investors fell to 75,943 at the end of Q1 2021, from 76,152 at the start of the quarter. Similarly, East African corporate investors dipped to 722 from 759 at the start of the quarter. International corporate accounts decreased by 44 to 1,346 at the end of March.
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