Nairobi Securities Exchange in fifth straight trading-day gain

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has recorded its first fifth consecutive gain since the close of January after four weeks of negative returns.

A market report from the NSE Monday showed the bourse closed the day with the NSE 20-Share Index gaining five points to settle at 2,867.39 points. The NSE All-Share Index (NASI) also made a gain of 0.87 points to close the day at 125.06 points.

The number of shares traded increased by 58 per cent to 51.32 million compared to Friday, while equity turnover climbed by 38.3 per cent to Sh902.9 million.

While the NSE 20 Index tracks the performance of 20 blue-chip companies, the NASI gives a snapshot on the performance of all the listed companies at the bourse.

Market rebound

Monday’s gain was a consolidation of the rally that began on Tuesday last week to reverse the dismal trend that has characterised most of the trading sessions.

On Monday last week, the NSE 20 shaved off 22.40 points to close trading at 2,789.64 points, way below the psychological level of 3,000 points.

The latest gain means that since the new month started, the NSE 20 has gained 55.35 points, while the NASI is up by 2.78 points.

Last week, NSE Chief Executive Geoffrey Odundo had tipped the market to rebound as investors take advantage of the lower prices to buy shares.

Last Friday, the bourse closed with all three indices in the green for the first week since the market opened in 2017. The NSE 20 had gained by 1.79 per cent, while NASI gained 1.56 per cent.

The NSE report showed that week-on-week turnover stood at Sh3.1 billion on a volume of 148 million shares, up from Sh2.8 billion on 115 million shares posted the previous week.

Safaricom accounted for over half (50.24 per cent) of the week’s total turnover. It moved 84 million shares valued at Sh1.5 billion at between Sh18.25 and Sh19.

It was followed by banking sector, with shares worth Sh959 million, or 30.78 per cent of the week’s traded value. KCB actively moved 14 million shares valued at Sh335 million, while Equity Group Holdings moved shares worth Sh294 million.

Despite the gain on the bourse, the NSE 20 Index is still trading at levels last seen in 2008; raising it beyond 3000 points will require sustained gains.

Out of the 25 trading sessions since January 3, the NSE 20 has gained on only five trading sessions, while NASI has been up eight times.

Since the year began, the NSE 20 has shed 318.82 points, or 10 per cent, while the NASI is down 8.28 points, or 6.21 per cent.