During the week, the equities market recorded mixed performance with NASI and NSE 20 gaining by 0.3% and 0.7%, respectively, while the NSE 25 declined by 0.2%, taking their YTD performance to gains/losses of 5.1%, (13.4%) and (1.5%), for NASI, NSE 20 and NSE 25, respectively. The performance in NASI was driven by gains in Safaricom, Co-operative Bank, and Bamburi, which gained by 1.4%, 0.4%, and 0.8%, respectively.
Equities turnover decreased by 47.7% during the week to US$ 13.4 million, from US$ 25.6 million the previous week. Foreign investors remained net sellers for the week, with a net selling position of US$ 0.4 mn, from a net buying position of US$ 2.2 million the previous week.
During the week, the Kenya Shilling remained stable against the US Dollar to close at Sh 103.8, unchanged from the previous week, supported by inflows from offshore investors buying government securities and liquidity in the local market.
On a Year to Date basis, the Shilling has depreciated by 1.9% against the US dollar, in comparison to the 1.3% appreciation in 2018.
Analysts expect the Shilling to remain relatively stable against the US dollar in the short term, supported by narrowing of the current account deficit, improved diaspora remittances, CBK’s supportive activities in the money market, and high forex reserves, currently at US$ 9.0 billion (equivalent to 5.6-months of import cover).
