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NAIROBI (Xinhua) --
Kenya’s equities market recorded a downward trend in
the first quarter of the year, with key indices losing by between
1.5 percent and 2.5 percent.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (NASI) went
down 2.1 percent, the benchmark 20 Share Index 2.3 percent and the
25 Share Index 1.7 percent, data from the securities market showed
Monday.
The decline that saw the indices close the quarter at 130.51,
3,112.52 and 3,468.90 respectively was mainly attributed to fall in
prices of large stocks.
Top gainers for the quarter were Kenya Commercial Bank, Standard
Chartered and Equity Bank, which gained 21 percent, 14 percent and
10 percent respectively.
The biggest losers among the large stocks by market capitalization
were Housing Finance, Athi River Mining, Kenya Re, British American
Tobacco and leading telecom Safaricom. The five stocks declined 30
percent, 22 percent, 15 percent, 7 percent and 6 percent
respectively.
Since the peak in February 2015 of over 5,000 points, both the NASI
and NSE 20 went down 24 percent and 39 percent respectively.
On the positive side, Equity turnover during the quarter grew by 40
percent to 349 million U.S. dollars compared to 250 million dollars
in quarter four of 2016.
However, the turnover declined by 3 percent as compared to a similar
period in 2016, where the bourse recorded 359 million dollars.
Foreign investors, in the first quarter of this year, were net
buyers with inflows rising 90 percent to 17.3 million dollars
compared to net inflows of 9.1 million witnessed in quarter four of
2016.
Analysts noted that one of the reasons trading at the bourse has
shrunk is due to negative effects of the interest capping law on the
banking sector, which have made investors keep off stocks.
“Poor corporate governance in companies has further dampened
investor confidence and market sentiment for stocks in Kenya,” said
Cytonn, a Nairobi-based investment firm, in an analysis Monday. |
