The Kenyan Shilling (KES) held steady against the US dollar (USD) with the USDKES exchange rate remaining unchanged at 105.50 (1.30pm GMT). This comes on the back of a meeting between the Central Bank Governor and the CEOs of Commercial banks where it is understood, the latter were explicitly asked to assist in curbing any speculative activity. In addition, the monetary regulator was in the market to mop up KES 9Bn worth of securities.
Furthermore, US dollars’ worth 30Mn were sold on Tuesday, aiding in propping the shilling. The Great British Pound (GBP) took a hit against the US dollar and other peers on the news that economic data reported was far below expectations. Consequently, the KES made gains of 0.64% against the GBP with GBPKES at 161.59 from 162.63 the previous day. Regionally, the shilling weakened by 0.52% and 0.23% against the South African Rand (ZAR) and the Ugandan Shilling (UGX) respectively whilst gaining by 0.17% against the Tanzanian Shilling (TZS).
Foreign Investor Participation
Midweek trading saw an increase in total trade volumes by foreign investors from the previous day. In addition foreign investor participation accelerated from accounting for less than half of total turnover the previous day to accounting for three quarters of total turnover on Wednesday.
Foreign investor participation accounted for 77.41% of total turnover against 22.59% local participation. Foreign investors ended the day on the buy side recording net inflows worth KES 79.09Mn. Foreign investors accounted for 77.41% of the NSE turnover as compared to 47.48% on Tuesday.
Foreign investors engaged in net accumulative activities, resulting in net inflows worth KES 79.09Mn marking seven straight days of inflows since the beginning of September.
Safaricom Ltd (NSE: SCOM) was the day’s highest traded stock, recording a turnover of KES 629.72Mn to account for 54.53% of total market activity and 70.45% of foreign investor activity, followed by Kenya Commercial Bank (NSE: KCB) with a turnover of KES 132.10Mn, representing 11.44% of total market activity and 14.78% of foreign investor activity.
Safaricom Ltd (NSE: SCOM) posted the day’s highest net inflows worth KES 98.25Mn and the day’s highest net outflows, worth KES 39.48Mn, was posted by Kenya Commercial Bank Ltd (NSE: KCB).