Activity on the Nairobi Securities exchange was lower this week as investors cautiously traded on foreign market reactions following various developments on the European Union’s Brexit talks and the happenings around the coronavirus . Foreign investors held majority position in trading this week, accounting for 71.89% of the week’s total trading activity. Foreign activity was high on the main blue-chip counters, with local investor activity noticeable on Carbacid. Investments Plc
The benchmark NSE All share index (NASI) was down 1.00 points or 0.68% to close the trading week at 147.12 points. This represented a 4-week gain of 2.22%, but an overall year-to-date performance of -11.59%. The NSE 20 share index was however up, adding 7.64 points or 0.43% to close Friday at 1,794.06 points, while NSE25 share index shed 16.35 points or 0.49% from last week’s close to stand at 3296.62. The NSE 20 and the NSE25 share indices have shed up-to 32.41% and 19.61% respectively in year to date performance.
Equity turnover on the exchange was down 49.62% at Kes 2.68 billion from last week’s turnover of Kes 5.32 billion. Volume of shares exchanging hands on the exchange similarly took a nosedive, posting a 38.14% decline, with 101.97 million shares exchanging hands as compared to the 164.8 million shares transacted the previous week.
Safaricom was the most active counter by turnover, accounting for 51.66% of the week’s traded value, with 42 million shares valued at Kes 1.3 billion transacted. The share saw a 1.64% decline in share price to close the week at Kes 32.95 per share from last week’s close of Kes 33.50 per share.
The banking sector came in second in activity with Kes 943 million worth of shares transacted, translating to 35.19% of the week’s traded value. Equity Group Holdings Plc led activity in the banks, with 20.9 million shares valued at
Kes.728M transacted at between Kes.34.50 and Kes.35.45 per share. KCB Group Plc had 2.7 million shares worth Kes.103 million transacted, closing the week at a price of Kes.37.00.
Coming in third was the manufacturing and allied sector, with shares worth 299 million transacted during the week, with East African Breweries Plc coming in, with shares valued at Kes 108.72 million transacted.
The Derivatives Market of the Nairobi Securities Exchange closed the week higher, with a total of 117 contracts valued at Kes.3,262,600 concluded as compared to the 6 contracts valued at Kes.193,950 concluded during the previous week.
Trading on the secondary bond market at the Nairobi Securities Exchange posted an 86.9% rise in activity with Kes.13.73 billion worth of bonds traded against the Kes 7.35 billion worth of bonds transacted in the previous week.
