NSE weekly trading sheds off Sh200 million

A total of 88 million shares valued at Ksh3.3 billion were transacted at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) in the week ending January 25.

In the previous week, the bourse had ended with 132 million shares valued at Ksh3.5 billion, meaning NSE turnover shed Ksh200 million this week.

The Kenyan Shilling on the other hand also hit a three month high by close of Friday.

At the NSE, the Banking Sector, the Manufactured and Allied Sector as well as the Telecommunication Sector traded high volumes of shares during the week.

Safaricom for example transacted 45.8 million shares valued at Ksh1 billion, representing 32.20% of the week’s traded value.

The Banking Sector also traded within the same range, slightly edging out the Telecommunication Sector by ending the week with shares worth Kes.1.1 billion transacted, accounting for 34.93% of the week’s traded value.

In this sector, KCB Group and Equity Group Holdings moved shares valued at Ksh571 million and Ksh435 million respectively.

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The Manufacturing & Allied Sector had shares worth Ksh910 million transacted which represented
27.31% of the week’s traded value.

In this sector, BAT Kenya excited the market during the week with 1.3 million shares valued at Ksh853 million changing hands.

All NSE market performance measures gained ground compared to the previous week as follows;

• The NSE 20 share was up 55.89 points or 1.96% to stand at 2907.66.
• All Share Index (NASI) gained 1.21 points or 0.83% to settle at 146.48.
• The NSE 25 Share index rose by 71.51 points or 1.95% to settle at 3739.21.

The Bond Market on the other hand recorded improved activity with bonds worth Ksh10.6 billion transacted compared to Ksh7.6 billion registered the previous week.

Kenyan Shilling

The country’s currency also fared well against the US Dollar, quoted at a level last seen in late October last year, according to Reuters.

Commercial banks quoted the Ksh. at 100.90/101.10 per dollar, compared with 101.10/30 at Thursday’s close.

Reuters reported, “The Kenyan shilling strengthened to a 3-month high against the dollar on Friday due to inflows from offshore investors buying government debt amid thin oil importer demand, traders said.”

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