Jubilee Insurance Set to Acquire Three Firms

On the third trading day of the week, the market continued to post an all too familiar trend seen in the last two days. The bears carried the day resulting in a 2.59% decline on the NSE-20 Share Index to close at 3875.84 points whilst the NSE-25 Share Index plunged by 2.85% to close at 3938.71 points.

The Nairobi All Share Index (NASI) displayed a similar trend, knocking out 2.53% to close at 136.33 points, amplifying on the already poor market conditions. The market capitalization contracted by 2.54% to close at KES 1,917.48 billion while equity turnover bucked the trend, gaining a hefty 171.26% to close at KES 1.497 billion.

Financial sector has been on the spotlight in the last few days, remarkably due to heightened market surveillance by the regulators. This has not spared the banking sector either; resulting in sharp price declines of 3.25%, 8.05%, 4.60%, 4.73% and 6.54% for Barclays Bank of Kenya (NSE: BBK), Equity Group Holdings (NSE: EQTY), Housing Finance Group (NSE: HFCK), Kenya Commercial Bank (NSE: KCB) and NIC Bank (NSE: NIC).

On the other hand, the insurance sector seems to have weathered the storm, though with marginal declines on the listed stocks. Jubilee Insurance Company Ltd (NSE: JIC) revealed its intentions to acquire three firms (1 international and two local insurance firms), setting it on higher ground for competition with other firms. The stock lost 5.56% to close at KES 425.00, edging closer to its 52-week low.

Equity Market Highlights

Equity Group Holdings Ltd (NSE: EQTY) was the most actively traded stock accounting for 65.32% of the total market activity. Kenya Commercial Bank Ltd (NSE: KCB) closed in second position, accounting for 16.12% of the days traded value.

Olympia Capital Holdings Ltd (NSE: OCH) capped the gainers chart garnering 8.89% to close the day at KES 4.90 on account of only 1,000 shares traded. TPS Eastern Africa Ltd (NSE: TPSE) edged up by 5.36%, to close the day at KES 29.50. Equity Group Holdings Ltd (NSE: EQTY) was the biggest laggard of the day, dipping by 8.05% to KES 40.00 as banking stocks continue registering heavy foreign outflows due to loss of investor confidence in the sector. WPP Scangroup Ltd (NSE: SCAN) charted a similar trend, cutting back 8.00% to KES 23.00.