Weekly Market Review; Shilling stable, NSE activity ups as demonetization closes

The Kenya Shilling Exchange rate remained stable against the greenback with activity at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) also picking up.

The local unit strengthened against the US$ dollar on Friday with commercial banks quoting the Shilling at Sh103.70/90 per dollar on Friday, compared with 103.80/104.0 at the previous days close.

A Weekly Bulletin by Central Bank of Kenya (CBK) indicates that the Kenya Shilling remained stable against major international and regional currencies during the week ending October 3. It exchanged at Sh 103.86 to the US$ on October 3.

The benchmark NSE 20 share index, which is a key barometer that signals performance of the stock market, was at 2443.85 at the end of the week 26th September to 3rd October 2019 compared to 2439.71 at the end of the week 20-26th September 2019, as shown by CBK data.

Weekly Market Capitalization rose from Sh 2175.52 billion between 20th – 26th September to Sh 2221.15 billion between September 27th – 3RD October 2019, a change of 2.10 per cent.

Equity turnover, which measures the level of liquidity at the NSE, fell 8.51 per cent to Sh 2467.44 billion at the close of week ending 3^rd October week compared to Sh 2696.87 billion the previous week.

A total of 88.4 million shares were traded this week compared to 86.6 million the previous week with the NSE 25 Share index rising from 3461.86 points to 3506.70 points during the period under consideration, an increase of 1.3 per cent.

At the close of the demonetization process, CBK states that out of 217,047,000 pieces in old Sh 1000 notes, 209,661,000 pieces were withdrawn.

The Monetary Authority said 7,386,000 pieces valued at Sh 7.386 Billion, were not received at the end of the withdrawal process. This means that these old notes are now rendered worthless.

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