At the closing bell, all market indicators took a nose-dive into the red territory. The NSE-20 share index lost 0.51% to close at 3785.73 points while the NASI retreated by 0.73% to 140.92 points. Further on, the NSE 25 Share Index also closed in the red, depreciating by 0.07% at 4029.43 points. Market capitalization contracted by 0.73% to KES 1.984Tn whilst equity turnover cut back 17.68% to close at KES 712.36Mn. The advancers-18 outpaced the decliners-15, for the second consecutive day this week with the A/ ratio closing at 1.20x against yesterday’s close of 1.19x.
The National Housing Corporation (NHC) is in plans to issue a KES 5Bn note by end of Q2 2016. The issuance was meant to take place in 2015, but was delayed due to the interest rates volatility experienced in the third and fourth quarters of 2015.
The funds raised are intended to finance the building of maisonettes in Machakos where the company owns 150 acres, as well as flats in Mombasa and Kisumu. The housing company will also package some of its properties under an Income-Real Estate Investment Trust (I-REIT) and Asset Backed Securities (ABS), as a way to generate more funds. We opine that the capital raising initiative will be a success if conducted in Q2 2016, as the interest rates will have relatively stabilized, giving issuers an attractive yield on which to borrow from the markets.
Equity Market Highlights
East African Breweries Ltd (NSE: EABL) was the most actively traded stock today accounting for 39.99% of the total market value traded activity, posting the days’ highest foreign inflows for the second day running. Safaricom Ltd (NSE: SCOM) closed in second, accounting for 26.79% of the total market turnover.
Longhorn Publishers Ltd (NSE: LKL) capped the gainers chart appreciating by 7.14% to close at KES 5.25. B.O.C. Kenya Ltd (NSE: BOC) was the day’s second biggest gainer with a 6.32% surge to KES 101.00. ARM Cement Ltd (NSE: ARM) was the top loser of the day, edging down by 8.15% to close at KES 31.00. This could have been on account of waning investor confidence. Sasini Ltd (NSE: SASN) followed behind, declining by 6.63% to close at KES 18.30.
Research by Genghis Capital.