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Foreign investor outflows at the Nairobi Securities Exchange surged more than six times to Sh10.8 billion in the quarter ended June 2022/FILE

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Market activity goes up as equities defy election jitters

Banking Sector was busy with shares worth Sh1.7 billion transacted and accounted for 33.67 percent of the week’s traded value according to data from the NSE/COURTESY

NAIROBI, Kenya, Aug 14 – The equity market has maintained its post-election resilience continuing its upward trend with the NSE 20, NSE 25 and NSE All Share index gaining 5.3 percent, 4.4 percent, and 4.3 percent respectively by end of last week.

The performance was driven by gains in select large cap stocks such as Equity Group, KCB Group and Safaricom, which gained 7.5 percent, 7.4 percent, and 4.3 percent, respectively.

Analysts at Cytonn Investment say since the February 2015 peak, the market has lost 7 percent and 27.7 percent for NSE All Share Index and NSE 20, respectively.

Banking Sector was busy with shares worth Sh1.7 billion transacted and accounted for 33.67 percent of the week’s traded value according to data from the NSE.

“KCB Group touched a 12-Month high of S44.50 before easing down to close the week at Sh43.50 with shares worth Sh651 million transacted while Equity Group Holdings touched a 12-month high of Sh43.50 and a week’s low of  Sh39.50 with shares worth Sh156 million transacted,” NSE stated in weekly data.

Co-op Bank recorded a 3.86 percent gain to close the week at Sh16.15 with shares worth Sh48 million transacted.

The Construction Sector according to the data had shares worth Sh183 million transacted and represented 8.78 percent, while the Energy Sector had shares worth Sh86.9 million traded and accounted for 4.17 percent of the week’s turnover.

The Insurance Sector had shares worth Sh72 million transacted and represented 3.45 percent of the week’s traded value.

The Investment Sector had shares worth Sh66 million traded and accounted for 3.17 percent of the week’s turnover.

Centum shares touched a 12-Month high of  Sh43.75 before declining to close the week at Kes.43.50 moving 1.4M shares valued at Sh60 million.

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The Manufacturing & Allied Sector had shares worth Sh128 million transacted which accounted for 6.15 percent of the week’s turnover.

Safaricom touched an all-time high of Sh25.50 and was the week’s biggest mover with 23 million shares valued at Sh563 million changing hands at between Sh23.50 and Sh25.50.

Analysts expect business activities to normalize in the coming week as post-election fears and uncertainty dissipates, the president elect gets sworn in, and the government takes charge.

“Rates in the fixed income market have remained stable, and we expect this to continue in the short-term. However, a budget deficit that is likely to result from depressed revenue collection creates uncertainty in the interest rates environment as any additional borrowing in the domestic market to plug the deficit could lead to upward pressures on interest rates. Our view is that investors should be biased towards short- to medium term fixed income instruments to reduce duration risk,” Cytonn Investments analysts said.

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