The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) trended upward in the fifteenth week of the year, buoyed by gains in large cap stocks.
The Nairobi All Share Index (NASI) rose 3.9% to close at 199.26 points, driven by gains in market heavyweights such as Co-operative Bank, Equity Group, and Absa Bank Kenya, which advanced by 7.7%, 7.2%, and 4.4%, respectively. The index is now up 10.5% on a year-to-date basis.
The NSE 10 and NSE 25 indices, edged higher, gaining 4.8% and 4.0%, concluding the week at 2,072.10 points and 5,523.02 points, respectively, while the NSE 20 gained 9.9%. Meanwhile, the Banking Sector Index rose by 4.5% to 238.9 points from 228.6 points, attributable to the upside recorded by tier-one lenders during the week.
NSE Top Gainers and Losers
National carrier Kenya Airways led the pack gaining 25.9% to close at KES 6.90. TPS Eastern Africa followed with an 8.5% gain, while Sameer Africa, TotalEnergies, and Sasini Plc advanced by 8.0%, 7.9%, and 7.7%, respectively.
On the downside, East African Portland Cement was the biggest laggard shedding 7.9%, followed by Standard Group at 3.5%. Kakuzi plc and WPP ScanGroup declined by 3.0% and 2.5%, while Home Afrika rounded out the top losers, declining by 2.0%.
Market Activity
Trading activity slowed compared to the previous week, with the volume of shares traded decreasing by 4.8% to 89.6 million. However, equity turnover rose marginally by 1.2% to KES 2.77 billion. The bourse added 3.9% (KES 128.4 billion) in market capitalization to reach KES 3.43 trillion, up from 3.30 trillion in the previous week.
Local investors dominated the market, recording a turnover of KES 1.8 billion, equivalent to 64.9% of the total turnover. Foreign investors accounted for 35.1% of the total turnover, equivalent to KES 970.7 million.
Foreign investors emerged net sellers recording net outflows of KES 940.1 million.
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