NSE-20 Share Index Maintained Steady Upward Trend

By Soko Directory Team / Published April 6, 2016 | 7:05 am

The Nairobi Securities Exchange was a beehive of activities as outlined by the large volumes of transactions that were witnessed and undertaken and which appeared to have doubled as compared to the previous trading.

During yesterday’s trading, the NSE-20 share index which is often used as a benchmark, maintained a steady upward trend where it gained 0.20 percent to end the day at 4016.64 points while the NSE All Share Index declined by shedding off 0.10 percent to end the day at 4232.60 points.

The total value traded at the NSE closed on a positive note of 0.896 billion shillings with this being an increase of 115.47 percent. The market capitalization on the other hand retreated by 0.10 percent to end the day at 2,068.19 billion shillings from 2,070.34 billion shillings. The Market breadth also exhibited an improvement as the number of stocks that advanced -18 outweighed the number of stocks that declined -16 ahead of what was exhibited in the previous trading.

The tobacco industry on the other hand is set to undergo some key regulatory changes in the country as the new rules governing the manufacturing, sale and advertising of tobacco products take effect. These laws set to be effected on tobacco will affect listed companies such as British American Tobacco Kenya Ltd (NSE: BAT).

According to this Act, consumption of tobacco has been implicated in causing debilitation, disease, and death thus, the move is towards regulating the consumption of tobacco which result in ripple effects in the company.

Bamburi Cement Ltd (NSE: BAMB) and Standard Chartered Bank Kenya Ltd (NSE: SCBK) were among the top movers for the day as investors engaged in cumulative activities ahead of their book closure dates on 12th and 22nd April 2016 (respectively). The two provided shares that were most traded in.

Turning on the currencies and on how they performed, the Kenyan shilling registered gains against all but one of its international and regional comparable. The shilling strengthened by 0.03 percent against the US Dollar, to end the day at 101.47.

The shilling followed suit against the Sterling Pound and the Euro, garnering 0.13% and 0.22% to close trading at 114.90 and 11.38 (respectively); as data, from the latter, showed that the service sector edged lower (MoM). On the regional front, the Kenyan shilling weakened against the Ugandan shilling- by 0.04% to close at 33.19- and held steady against the Tanzanian shilling.

Article by Juma Fred.

About Soko Directory Team

Soko Directory is a Financial and Markets digital portal that tracks brands, listed firms on the NSE, SMEs and trend setters in the markets eco-system.Find us on Facebook: facebook.com/SokoDirectory and on Twitter: twitter.com/SokoDirectory

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