Demand for Safaricom shares at the Nairobi Securities Exchange has shot up over the past two days, pushing the stock to cross the Sh30 mark. The shares of Kenya’s leading mobile operator were the day’s main feature with 15 million shares valued at Ksh452 million changing hands at between Ksh29.00 and Ksh30.25 by the close of trading Wednesday.
Trade in Safaricom shares represented 44.16% of the day’s traded value, up from 19.86 on Tuesday. Trading volumes doubled from 8.7 million shares the previous day as value grew to Sh262 million. On Tuesday Safaricom touched Sh30.50, buoyed by a study on the telecoms market released by the Communications Authority of Kenya which appeared to ease up on the mobile operator.
Players in the industry had expected drastic recommendations to tame Safaricom’s command of the market, but the report, commissioned by Communications Authority (CA) and authored by British firm MS Analysys Mason, steered clear of the contentious subject despite its findings on Safaricom’s dominant poise in the retail markets for mobile communications and mobile money.
Initially, a leaked version of the report had recommended that the country’s largest telco operator be declared a dominant operator, which would have seen its voice and mobile money units split into two separate business entities to “favourably” compete with rival telecommunications companies.
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This has given investors confidence in the company’s earnings potential. Demand is also growing ahead of the company’s results expected in after March 2018 and stock analysts recommend a buy and hold for the counter.
Meanwhile, turnover at the NSE declined to Ksh1 billion from the previous session’s Ksh1.3 billion, while the number of shares traded stood at 27M against 35M posted yesterday.
The NSE 20 share Index picked up 2.91 points to stand at 3730.24. The All Share Index (NASI) shed 0.03 points to 181.71, while the NSE 25 Share index was down 3.04 points to close at 4527.24.
The Banking Sector had shares worth Ksh434M transacted which accounted for 42.39% of the day’s traded value. After touching a 12-Month high of Ksh212.00, Diamond Trust Bank eased down to close at Ksh210.00 with shares worth Ksh157M transacted. Equity Group Holdings was down twenty-five cents to Ksh43.00 moved 2M shares valued at Ksh92.7M. KCB Group moved 1.7M shares worth Ksh79.8M and closed at Ksh45.50.
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The Construction & Allied Sector had shares worth Ksh17M traded & accounted for 1.67% of the day’s turnover. Bamburi Cement traded 95,000 shares valued at Ksh16.7M at between Ksh174.00 and Ksh175.00.
The Energy & Petroleum Sector had shares worth Ksh19.8M transacted which represented 1.93% of the day’s traded value. KenolKobil closed 3.57% higher to Ksh15.95 moving 1M shares valued at Kes.17M.
The Investment Sector had shares worth Ksh4.5M traded & accounted for 0.44% of the day’s turnover. Centum shares remained steady at Ksh46.00 moving 93,000 shares valued at Ksh4M.
The Manufacturing & Allied Sector had shares worth Ksh89M transacted which represented 8.72% of the day’s traded value. E.A Breweries moved 190,000 shares valued at Kes.46.6M at between Ksh230.00 and Ksh249.00. Unga Group down twenty-five cents to Ksh42.25 moved 975,000 shares valued at Ksh41M.
