The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) opened this week with a total of 5.8Million shares valued at KSh.188.5Million, against 4.28Million shares valued at KSh.171Million posted on January 3rd, 2020.
The NSE 20 share Index was down 1.52 points to stand at 2706.38.All Share Index NASI shed 0.37 points to stand at 167.00.The NSE 25 Share index dropped 9.98 points to settle at 4126.93.
The Banking Sector had shares worth KSh.117Million transacted which accounted for 62.06 percent of the day’s traded value. Equity Group Holdings was the day’s main feature with 1.7Million shares valued at KSh.96Million changing hands at between KSh.53.75 and KSh.55.25.
KCB Group closed the day 2.27per cent lower to KSh.53.75 moving 152,000 shares valued at KSh.8.2Million. Barclays Bank moved 254,000 shares worth KSh.3.4Million and closed at Kes.13.45.
The Insurance sector had shares worth 6.6Million traded & accounted for 3.51per cent of the day’s traded value. Britam Holdings up 5.52% to KSh.9.94 moved 545,000 shares worth KSh.5.4Million.
The Energy & Petroleum sector had shares worth 2.93Million traded & accounted for 1.56per cent of the day’s traded value. KenGen traded 317,000 shares valued at KSh.1.8Million at between KSh.5.74 and KSh.6.00.
Safaricom moved 1.9Million shares valued at KSh.59.9Million at between KSh.31.05 and KSh.31.70; this represented 31.78 per cent of the day’s traded value.
The Bond market had bonds worth KSh 924Million transacted.
During the year, the Kenyan equities market recorded mixed performance, with NASI and NSE 25 gaining by 18.5per cent and 15.5per cent, respectively, while NSE 20 declined by 6.3per cent.
Top gainers at NSE in 2019 included Equity Group, KCB Group, Safaricom, NCBA, Barclays, Co-operative Bank and EABL.
The biggest losers were Bamburi, BAT and DTB which lost 39.6per cent, 31.0per cent and 30.4per cent during the year, respectively.
Safaricom continued to dominate trade at the bourse, accounting for 50.9per cent of the NSE’s market capitalization. It was also the main mover in both market turnover and direction given its weight and liquidity.
Equity turnover declined during the year by 12.9per cent to US$ 1.5 billion from US$ 1.7 billion in 2018.
Foreign investors turned net buyers, with a net inflow of US$ 18.5 Million, compared to net outflows of US$ 425.6 Million in the 2018 financial year.
Investment bankers attribute huge foreign investor inflows during 2019 to improved financial performance of listed commercial banks and repeal of the rate cap law in the last quarter of the year.
In 2019, 10 companies issued profit warnings to investors compared to 8 companies in 2018. This is a barometer indicating tough economic times.
These firms include Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE), BOC Kenya, UAP Holdings Limited, KPLC, EAAGADS, Williamson Tea, Standard Group, CIC Insurance, Kenya Airways and Kapchorua Tea.
