Newly listed Co-op Bank shares dominate trade

By Macharia Kamau and Reuters

Co-operative Bank shares prices have held firm at the Sh10 level just above the IPO offer price of Sh9.50.

The shares were going for Sh10.10 by the close of trading at the Nairobi Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday.

The shares started trading at the market on Monday and went up by 42 per cent to Sh13.50 in the first hours of trading before sliding back to Sh9.55 with fears that the prices would fall below the Sh9.50 IPO price.

They have, however, been able to withstand shocks from the bear market and closed at Sh10.45 by end of the first day of trading and went up on Tuesday to close at Sh10.55.

The bank was the second to be listed at the bourse this year, the other company being Safaricom whose share prices have since gone below the Sh5.50 IPO price.

Heavily traded

Co-op Bank shares have also been one of the most heavily traded stock during the week and has cumulatively moved close to three million shares. Yesterday, more than one million shares of the bank were traded and accounted for close to 50 per cent of the shares traded at the financial sector where 2.1 million shares were moved.

Owing to the shorter week occasioned by Christmas holidays, the week saw an over 50 per cent (18 million) decline in the volume of shares that were traded at the market, down from 41 million shares posted last week. Weekly turnover went down from Sh482 million last week to Sh 267 million.

The 20 share Index, however, went up by 1.66 per cent to settle at 3406.34 points compared to 3350.63 posted last week, while the broader All Share Index gained 0.44 points to close at 71.79.

Meanwhile, in the money market, the shilling is seen unchanged against the dollar in the week ahead.

The local currency is expected to stay unchanged against the dollar in the remaining trading sessions of this year as activity stays subdued due to the holidays.

Commercial banks posted the unit at Sh76.85/95 against the greenback, little moved from last Wednesday’s close of Sh76.80/90.

Most traders expect the shilling to come under pressure from the dollar once normal business resumes in January.

"Going forward, considering the current state of the world economies that is expected to continue affecting tourism negatively and the continuous food importation, we bet on a weak shilling," Bank of Africa said in a market report.