Foreign Investors Exhibit Unusual Taste in Picking Value Stocks

State-owned electricity distributor Kenya Power & Lighting Company Limited was the prime mover at the Nairobi Securities Exchange(NSE) today, trading a volume of 2.33 million shares at a price of Ksh1.76, down 1.12% from the previous Ksh1.78.

Activity on this counter was dominated by local investors, with foreigners having a 48.4% participation. Investors reacted to a disclosure by Kenya Power that the demand for electricity is now back to normal. 

The firm added that it will lift COVID-triggered force majeure on power generation contracts effective August 2020, meaning that Kenya Power will now be bound by existing agreements on payment of electricity from power producers. These include KenGen and Independent Power Producers (IPPs).

Other movers at the NSE on Tuesday that followed Kenya Power were Equity Holdings (I.46 million), Britam(1.33 million), Safaricom (1.22 million) and Kenya Re (678,900).

Total Equity turnover at the NSE declined significantly to Ksh182.7 million compared to Ksh307.1 million on Monday, on a volume of 9.06 Million in 934 deals.

While foreign investors were dominant in Safaricom, Equity, Diamond Trust and EABL, activity in all the other counters was driven by local investors.

Top prices gainers at the NSE included Carbacid Investments, whose share price rose 3.98% to Ksh8.36 on a volume of 400 and turnover of Ksh 3,340, arising from three deals. Other price gainers included Uchumi, I&M Holdings, EABL and Longhorn Publishers Limited.

Crown Paints was the worst performing counter with its share price falling 9.685% to Ksh42.00. It was followed by TPS Serena, TransCentury, East African Cables and Bank of Kigali Group.

The NSE 20 share index gained 2.58 points to 1,850.21 while the NSE 25 was up 11.80 points from 3,242.38 to 3,254.18. The NASI fell marginally to 140.09 from the previous 140.37.

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