Global commodities market surged to start 2020 on a high note. Oil prices surged as much as $3 a barrel as gold, the yen and safe-haven bonds all rallied on Friday after the U.S. killing of Iran’s top military commander in an air strike in Iraq ratcheted up tensions between Washington and Tehran. Traders were spooked after the death of Major General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force who was also one of Iran’s most influential figures, and by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s vow of revenge.
The Killing of Major General Qassem pushed global stock indices on the red. Europe’s broad STOXX 600 index fell as much as 1%, but pared losses to close down 0.33%, while shares on Wall Street fell around 0.8% as New Year optimism, which had pushed equity markets to record highs, evaporated.
Listed Stocks on the Nairobi Securities Exchange experienced low activity throughout the three-day trading week, closing lower in volume and turnover as compared to last week. The banking & Telecommunication stock were stable during the week and accounted for 92% of the total market activity. Safaricom & KCB Group Plc shares moved 12.8 Million & 3.9 Million shares during the week as foreign interest demand of the banks sustained on the bourse. Next week’s activities are expected to be higher with the Fund Managers expected to return to the market. Trading prices might be lower, with effect from tension between Washington & Tehran.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange‘s trading week’s Week on Week (w-o-w) turnover rose by 2.26% to settle at Kes 905 Million against last weeks turnover of Kes 885 Million with an average daily turnover at 293 Million spread across the three- day trading week against last week’s 283 Million average.
Total, the Market recorded a 13.04% marginal increase in Volumes traded week-on-week, with 26 Million shares exchanging hands against 23 Million shares transacted the previous week. The average daily volume stood at 6.4 Million against last week’s 5.33 Million with Monday having the highest volume turnover of 8.97 Million shares valued at Kes. 353 Million.
The benchmark NSE All Share Index (NASI) closed Friday at 167.37, representing a week on week gain (W/W) of 1.03%, a 4-week month to month (M/M) gain of 5.62%, and an overall year-to-date (YTD) gain of 0.58%.
The NSE 25 Share Index (NSE25) closed Friday at 4136.91 points, indicating a w/w gain of 1.97%, a M/M gain of 5.01%, and an overall year-to-date (YTD) gain of 0.89%.
The NSE 20 share Index (NSE20) closed at 2707.90 points; indicating a week- on-week gain of 2.75%, a 4-week month to month (M/M) loss of 1.05% and a Year to date (YTD) gain of 2.02%.
NSE’s Derivatives Market (NEXT) continued the week with no activity, making this the second week without activity on the derivatives market.
The secondary Bond market at the NSE recorded reduced market activity with 1.4 Billion worth of bonds transacting, a drop in value as compared to last week’s value of 3.5 Billion.
