Activity on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) was higher this week despite the overall market sentiment closing on the negative by the close of Friday. Turnover on the bourse posted a 42.07% growth with Kes.2.41 billion value of shares traded, up from the Kes.1.70 billion worth of shares transacted in the preceding week.
The benchmark All Share Index of the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NASI) closed the week at 166.48, representing a 1-week loss of 0.28%, a 4-week gain of 0.66%, and an overall year-to-date gain of 9.45%.
The NSE 20 share index was down 30.47 points or 1.58% to close the week at 1,903.06 points, the NSE25 share index similarly shed 44.93 points or 1.21% from last week’s close to stand at 3,666.29. The NSE 20 and the NSE25 share indices have gained by 1.86% and 7.35% respectively in year to date performance.
The Volume of shares traded on the market was higher, with 82.4 million shares trading, a 42.91% increase in the volume of shares traded from last week’s 54.66million traded shares. The market capitalization stood at Kes.2.56 trillion, a 0.28% decrease from last week’s Kes. 2.57 trillion.
Safaricom Plc came out as the most active counter by value and volume, accounting for 51.05% of the week’s traded value, with 31 million shares valued at Kes 1.2 billion transacted. Safaricom’s average trading price stood at Kes 38.75 per share even as the telco launched the 5G network in Kenya.
The Banking Sector came in second in activity with shares worth Kes.895 million transacted, accounting for 37.17% of the week’s traded value. Equity Group Holdings Plc shed 1.56% in share price to close the week at Kes.41.00 per share. Equity had 9.9 million shares valued at Kes.414 million transacted. KCB Group Plc had 6.3 million shares valued at Kes.264 million transacted, the bank stock closed the week at Kes.41.10 per share.
Notable in the banking sector was Diamond Trust bank which was also the top loser this week, closing the week at 66.50 per share, a 9.83% decline in share price activity from last week’s trading price of Kes 73.75. This came after the bank’s financial results, with the bank withholding dividend payment to shareholders.
Housing Finance (HF) Group Plc was the week’s top gainer, adding 33.92% in share holder wealth, to close the week at Kes 4.58 per share, from last week’s Kes 3.42 per share. HF Group shares rallied on the NSE after Britam Holdings Plc, one of HF’s largest shareholders said they are looking for a willing partner to take up their stake in the lender.
NSE Bonds & Derivatives
The Derivatives Market of the Nairobi Securities Exchange closed the week with a total of 126 contracts valued at Kes. 5 million transacted, this was a sharp drop in transaction value from the 320 contracts valued at Kes.11.8 million posted in the preceding week.
Trading on the secondary bond market at the Nairobi Securities Exchange posted a 6.60% rise in activity with Kes.11.81 billion worth of bonds traded against the Kes 11.14 billion worth of bonds transacted in the previous week.
