NAIROBI, Kenya July 7-The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) continued wiping out gains in the second quarter of the year shedding Sh500 billion worth of investments in paper wealth as global market volatility persisted.
According to the NSE Q2 Barometer released Tuesday, the NSE market capitalization dropped from Sh2.4 trillion in the first three months of the year to Sh1.9 trillion.
“The 20 percent drop is attributed to a global slowdown, ongoing geopolitical tensions in Europe and the upcoming Kenyan election,” the report stated.
Equities market turnover was 6 per cent lower in Q2 2022 as the market saw a general slowdown in activity.
“The equities markets are, due to a number of factors, experiencing a downturn, however, the markets have high potential to rebound in Q3,” said NSE CEO, Geoffrey Odundo.
The market slowdown was also evidenced by the negative performance of the three key indices. The All Share, NSE 20 and NSE 25 indices were down 20 per cent, 13 per cent and 17 per cent respectively.
The general decline in market capitalization over the quarter was largely driven by the telecommunications sector which saw a 27 per cent drop in value from Sh1.38trillion to approximately Sh1trillion.
Banking counters also saw a 28 per cent drop in turnover registering Sh7.7billion worth of trades in Q2 2022 compared to Sh10.7billion in Q1 2022.
On a positive note, the NewGold ETF saw a sharp increase in turnover (199 per cent) registering a turnover of Sh278million in the period up from Sh93million in Q1 2022 as investors sought out gold as a safe haven.
“This reflects investor confidence in the asset’s ability to support portfolio diversification and hedging amidst geo-political tensions in Europe,” said Odundo.
The bond market registered a turnover of Sh195billion in Q2 2022 which was 2 per cent higher than the previous quarter however this was still lower than the turnover registered during the same period in 2021 (Sh271billion).
The total value of bonds outstanding as of June 30 2022 stood at Sh3.3trillion compared to Sh3.2trillion on 31 st March 2022.
During the quarter, infrastructure bonds continued to be the most actively traded bond instruments with the top 3 bonds taking up 31 per cent of the quarter’s turnover.
Foreign investor participation continued to dominate market activity on a year-to-date basis while local investor participation generally remained below the 50 per cent mark on a year-to-date basis.
