Liquidity in the NSE Remains Constrained

Secondary Market: Trading in the secondary market accelerated to KES 503.75 million with a total 16 bond deals transacted over the day. Investors concentrated on the short end of the yield curve. We expect trading in the market to pick up in the following week as liquidity is expected to ease up.

Money Market: The interbank rate stood high at 24.04% as liquidity in the NSE remained constrained. The USDKES exchange rate weakened by 0.12% to 101.15 (12:30pm GMT) as traders indicated that those who had been sitting on short dollar positions decided to cover them, on expectations that the liquidity crunch would ease as a new Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) cycle kicks in on Monday.

Upcoming Auctions:

• 12th August 2015 – KES 3.0Bn 182 & KES 4.0BN 364-day T-bills

• 13th August 2015 – KES 1 Bn 91 day T-bills