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Nairobi bourse opens Monday on a high

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 22 – The Nairobi Stock Exchange opened the week positive with 18 stocks opening up with another 11 trading lower than Friday’s close.

Foreign investor activity was relatively subdued perhaps as a result of the happenings in global markets which have incidentally opened on a positive note.

Analysts from Genghis-Capital say Scangroup is witnessing heavy foreign activity on the buying side with 92 percent of total turnover on the counter attributed to foreign investors.

“Kenol Kobil is currently witnessing a lot of activity by foreigners on the selling side with a total of 80.8 percent of total activity on the counter attributed to this investor segment,” explains Research Analyst Renaldo D’souza.

Foreigners appear to be selling off following the book closure date for the payment of an interim dividend of 57 cents for the half year ended  June 30 2011, last Friday August 19.

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The top traders in the morning session so far are Kenya Commercial Bank Group Ltd (576,100) and Safaricom Ltd (325,000).

Gaining by the biggest margins from last Friday’s close are Kakuzi Ltd 6.72 percent and Sameer Africa 5.88 percent.

Losing by the biggest margins on the other hand are Scangroup Ltd and Rea Vipingo which are currently trading at 5.76 percent and 5.14 percent below Friday’s close prices.

“There appears to be heavy foreign investor interest on Scangroup on the buying side with 41.1 percent of total equity turnover in what appears to be bargain hunters looking to snap up the stock,” explains D’souza.

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In terms of corporate action, Standard Group on Monday morning released its results for the half year ending June 30 2011 where it registered a 6.5 percent rise in profit before tax for to Sh230 million.

Earnings per share over the period in consideration grew 27.1 percent to Sh3.71 while revenue increased by 5.9 percent to Sh1.6 billion over the period.

The company did not declare an interim dividend although it closes its books for the payment of a final dividend of 50 cents this Friday August 26 2011.

The company is positive about the outlook for the second half of the year despite of weakening shilling that has had an adverse effect on the costs of raw material and distribution.

Looking towards the rest of the day, the analysts expect relatively low volumes compared to Friday’s close.

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The NSE should close marginally higher should its opening prices be sustained. However this will depend on trading in the afternoon session and particularly foreign activity.

They expect Jubilee Insurance Holdings and Standard Group to close higher with the latter posting relatively good half year results on Monday.

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