Foreign investor participation at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) increased to an average of 46.88% in the second quarter of 2025. Relative to the same period last year, the participation by foreigners declined by 10.41% from 57.29%.
Data from the Capital Markets Authority indicate that in April 2025, foreigners dominated the market, recording a participation of 59.51%. This was followed by a sharp downturn to 36.06% in May and a significant increase to 44.47% in June.
Trend in monthly % Foreign Participation to ET ( Apr 2024 – Jun 2025)
“The average foreign participation in quarter two 2025 was 46.68 percent, indicating an 8.44 percent surge from an average of 38.24 percent recorded in quarter one 2025,” wrote the CMA in its latest quarterly statistical bulletin.
Trend In Quarterly Average % Foreign Participation to ET ( Q1 2023 – Q2 2025)
In June, the NSE recorded net foreign purchases of Sh820 million. This marked the first time in nine months when foreigners bought more shares than they sold. Until June, foreigners have been net sellers due to fears over the US tariffs. In that period(September 2024 – May 2025), foreign net sales reached Sh6.95 billion.
Foreign investors have shown a strong appetite for the stocks listed on the MSCI frontier index – KCB Group, Safaricom, Equity Group, Co-operative Bank of Kenya, Standard Chartered, and EABL and also those on the MSCI small cap index – HF Group, BAT Kenya, KenGen, Kenya Re, and DTB.
Since the beginning of the year Safaricom, KCB Group, EABL, and Equity group stocks have had a turnover of KES 19.99billion, KES 11.6 billion, KES 3.59 billion, and KES 7.9 billion, respectively. Out of the turnovers, foreign investors accounted for 34.2% in KCB Group, 66.9% in Safaricom, 34.2 % in KCB Group, 67.2% in EABL and 50.7% in Equity group.
Also Read: Foreign Direct Investment in Africa Records a 7% Drop
