The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) closed the four day trading week with a higher activity streak, as investors continued to push into last week’s sell off frenzy. This was backed by the final rush by various companies to release their financial results for the financial year 2020 before the regulatory deadline of 31st March.
The benchmark All Share Index of the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NASI) closed the week at 160.68, representing a 1-week loss of 4.84%, a 4-week loss of 1.30%, and an overall year-to-date gain of 5.63%.
The NSE 20 share index was down 38.62 points or 2.25% to close the week at 1,864.44 points, the NSE25 share index similarly shed 106.89 points or 2.92% from last week’s close to stand at 3,559.40. The NSE 20 has shed up to 0.21% while the NSE25 share index has gained by 4.22% respectively in year to date performance.
The market turnover for the week stood at Kes 3.18 trillion, a 31.91% rise in activity from the Kes 2.41 trillion posted in the preceding week.
The Volume of shares traded on the market was higher, with 85.65 million shares trading, a 3.94% increase in the volume of shares traded from last week’s 82.4 million traded shares. The market capitalization stood at Kes.2.47 trillion, a 3.49% decrease from last week’s Kes. 2.56 trillion.
Safaricom Plc came out as the most active counter by value and volume, accounting for 55.28% of the week’s traded value, with 44 million shares valued at Kes 1.7 billion transacted. Safaricom’s average trading price eased to Kes 37.05 per share as the telco paid investors the special dividend declared earlier in the year.
The Banking Sector came in second in activity with shares worth Kes.762 million transacted, accounting for 24.00% of the week’s traded value. Equity Group Holdings Plc slipped 4.76% to Kes.39.05 with shares worth Kes.454 million transacted. KCB Group Plc moved 4 million
shares valued at Kes.172 million and closed the week at Kes.41.10 per share.
Longhorn Publishers Plc was the week’s top gainer, adding 9.58% in share holder wealth, to close the week at Kes 4.46 per share, from last week’s Kes 4.06 per share. Co-operative Bank of Kenya was a notable one on the banking sector, shedding 12.13% to Kes.11.95 with 4 million shares valued at Kes.55.5 million.
NSE Bonds & Derivatives
The Derivatives Market of the Nairobi Securities Exchange closed the week with a total of 89 contracts valued at Kes. 10.6 million transacted, this was a notable increase in transaction value from the 126 contracts valued at Kes.5 million posted in the preceding week.
Trading on the secondary bond market at the Nairobi Securities Exchange posted a further 1.53% decline in activity with Kes.11.63 billion worth of bonds traded against the Kes 11.81 billion worth of bonds transacted in the previous week.