Cooperative Bank market value jumps ahead of Standard Chartered.

The equities segment maintained the previous day’s pattern, with the NSE-20 share index gaining 0.22% to 4784.07 points and the NSE All Share Index (NASI) maintaining its position at 164.23 points. This was illustrated by market breadth as several stocks held steady, 22 stocks declined outweighing the gains recorded by the 12 that advanced.

The volume and value of transactions both followed went against the grain as market capitalization dropped 0.27% to close at KES 2.291Tn and equity turnover decreased by 49.80% to drop the total to KES 2.721Bn. Safaricom Ltd (NSE: SCOM) and Nairobi Securities Exchange Ltd (NSE: NSE) were the most actively traded counters today, accounting for 49.12% of the total value traded.

Cooperative Bank market value jumps ahead of Standard Chartered

In what appears to be a quiet end to a bearish week, Cooperative Bank market value, at Sh105 billion, jumped ahead of Standard Chartered Bank’s Sh87 billion. This is a result of StanChart counter value shaving Sh23billion over the past three months.

Poor investor sentiment, spurred by a 27% decline in net profit for Q1 FY15, was further aggravated by other banks aggressively expanding and targeting more customers; while the former is forced to take a more conservative approach due to losses.

On the other hand the newly-revised third-largest listed lender, Cooperative Bank, has remained steady with levels trading at Sh21.50 and Sh22, with new support from foreign investors valued at nearly Sh1.1 billion. Indications that the bank will boost profits by Sh1.8b billion, due to restructuring, remains the significant factor in investors’ confidence.

KCB remains the top lender by capitalisation at the local bourse, after regaining its title from Equity Bank in early April.

NSE Equity Market Highlights

Safaricom Ltd (NSE: SCOM) remained the most traded stock of the day, accounting for 30.34% of the total value traded. Nairobi Securities Exchange Ltd (NSE:NSE) followed closely with 18.78%.

Kakuzi Ltd (NSE: KUKZ) was the biggest gainer of the day up 6.07% to KES 297.00, having shed points the previous week. A close second Express Kenya Ltd. (NSE: XPRS) gained 5.66% to KES 5.60 Flame Tree Group Holdings Ltd. (NSE: FTGH) was the main losing stock dropping by 8.99% to 8.10, with Eveready East Africa Ltd. (NSE: EVRD) which dropped 7.46% to 273.00; with the later announcing book closure today.

Foreign Investor Participation

Foreign investor participation shrank during Friday’s trading session accounting for 36.66% of total turnover against 63.34% local participation. Investor’s appeared active on the accumulative front; resulting in net inflows worth KES 37.20Mn compared to net inflows worth KES 16.81Mn on Thursday.

Foreign investors accounted for 36.66% of the NSE turnover as compared to 62.43% on Thursday.

Investors were dominant on the buying front recording net inflows worth KES 37.20Mn relative to net inflows worth KES 16.16Mn on Thursday.

Safaricom Limited (NSE: SCOM) was the day’s highest traded stock, recording a turnover of KES 35.67Mn to account for 13.11% of total market activity and 35.75% of foreign activity. Nairobi Stock Exchange Limited (NSE: NSE) followed with a turnover of KES 25.61Mn representing 9.41% of total market activity and 25.67% of foreign activity.

Nairobi Stock Exchange Limited (NSE: NSE) posted the day’s highest inflows of KES 25.326Mn, whilst Safaricom Limited (NSE: SCOM) posted the day’s highest outflows worth KES 10.95Mn.

Kenyan Shilling Steady

Performance: The Kenyan Shilling (KES) garnered strength for a second consecutive session this week posting the largest gain against the US Dollar (+0.73%) to settle at 96.11(12:30pm GMT).

The monetary regulator remained active in the money market during the week mopping up liquidity from the money market through its open market operations and has provided support to the local unit.

The KES also remained strong against regional peers, recording the strongest gain of 1.51% against the Tanzanian Shilling (TZS) as strong demand for Dollar’s in Tanzania’s money market weighed down the TSZ. We preserve a stable outlook for the following week, where the KES is expected to trade steady with a strengthening bias and is likely to take cue from the outcome of the central bank’s rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on 9th June 2015.