The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) was on an upward trajectory, with the benchmark index, the Nairobi All Share Index (NASI), rising 2.46% to close at 209.21 points, up from 204.18 points in the previous session.
The equities market rally was mainly driven by gains in heavy weight stocks particularly Safaricom plc. The counter rose by 6.8% to KES 32.10, adding KES 82 billion in market capitalization.
The NSE 10 rose by 1.49% to 2,141.03 points, while the NSE 25 advanced by 1.37% to 5,685.48 points. The NSE 20 edged higher, up 0.40% to 3,52.55 points. Meanwhile, the Banking Sector Index closed at 232.24 points, up 0.20% from the previous session.
Trading activity picked up, with the volume of shares traded increasing by 20% to 40.15 million. Similarly, equity turnover rose sharply by 11.9%, to KES 1.2 billion. Investors’ wealth, measured by market capitalization, stood at KES 3.47 trillion, up 2.5% from the prior session.
NSE Top Gainers
Safaricom plc led the gainers, advancing by 6.8%, followed by agricultural firm Sasini Plc, which rose by 4.2%. Sameer Africa advanced by 3.1%, while Liberty Kenya gained 2.5%. Crown Paints closed the list after rising by 2.1%.
Safaricom Plc’s upturn
The counter’s rally was driven by strong FY26 results. Safaricom plc posted a 37.0% growth in profit attributable to shareholders to KES 95.6 billion. The Group declared a final dividend of KES 1.15, up 77% from KES 0.65 per share in FY25. Combined with an interim dividend of KES 0.85, Safaricom total dividend amounts to KES 2.0, translating to a dividend yield of 6.2% based on today’s share price.
NSE Top losers
On the downside, WPP ScanGroup shed the most, declining by 7.1%, followed by Sanlam Kenya which lost 5.5%. Other notable decliners included Kenya Airways, Olympia Capital, and Centum Investment Company. The counters fell by 4.6%, 4.6%, and 3.6%, respectively.
Also read: M-PESA Contributes Nearly 50% of Safaricom’s Service Revenue
