Activity on the Nairobi Securities Exchange was on the higher end this week, with the overall market breadth turning on the positive by the end of trading on Thursday. The benchmark NSE All share index (NASI) posted a gain of 2.14 points or 1.45% to close the short trading week at 150.18 points. This represented a 4-week gain of of 4.31%, but an overall year-to-date loss of 9.75%.
The NSE 20 share index was up 42.63 points or 2.37% to close the week at 1,893.51. points, the NSE25 share index similarly added 45.44 points or 1.38% from last week’s close to stand at 3,344.26. The NSE 20 and the NSE25 share indices have shed up-to 30.7% and 18.44% respectively in year to date performance.
Turnover for the week was lower, with the market declining 33.77% to Kes 1.37 billion as compared to the Kes 2.06 billion posted in the previous trading week. Decline in turnover could be attributed to the decline in activity as investors took a break from the market for the Christmas holidays.
Number of shares traded on the market was lower, with 44.58 million shares trading, a 47.14% decline from last week’s 84.33 Million traded shares.
The Banking Sector was the most active, with shares worth Kes.675 million transacted, accounting for 49.48% of the week’s traded value. KCB Group Plc was up 0.54% to Kes.37.00 with 7.4 million shares valued at Kes.273 million traded. Equity Group Holdings Plc moved 7.3 million shares valued at Kes.255 million at a fairly stable price of Kes.34.65.
The telecommunication sector was second, with Safaricom Plc touching an all-time high of Kes.34.10 per share before easing back to close the week at Kes.34.00. The stock had shares worth Kes.406 million transacted; translating to a 29.77% of the week’s traded value.
Bank of Kigali Group Plc was the week’s top gainer, adding 13.04% in shareholder wealth to close the week at a price of Kes 20.80 per share while Express Kenya Plc bottomed out as the week’s top looser, shedding 12.00% in share price to close the week at Kes 22.00 per share.
The Derivative Market of the NSE closed the week with a total of 30 contracts valued at Kes.580,000, this was a decline as compared to the 168 contracts valued at Kes.3.5 million posted in the previous trading week.
Trading on the secondary bond market at the Nairobi Securities Exchange posted a 1.05% growth in activity with Kes.16.03 billion worth of bonds traded against the Kes 15.86 billion worth of bonds transacted in the previous week.
