Israel and Kenya to Boost Security Partnership in Combating Terrorism

Activity in the equities market improved in comparison to yesterday as a result of increased movement around Equity bank mainly led by foreign investors.

The NASI moved up marginally by 0.16 points to settle at 140.23 points, while the NSE-20 share index added 34.47 points to close the day at 3969.89 points. The NSE 25 share index climbed by 11.73 points to 3668.45 points.

Market capitalization increased slightly to KES 1989.54 billion from KES 1987.32 billion previously while the equity turnover jumped 78.75% to KES 1.16 billion.

Kenyan security troops are set to benefit from increased training, equipment and intelligence sharing with Israel to boost their combat capability in the war against terrorism. President Uhuru Kenyatta said Tuesday that visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had pledged this in their bilateral meeting to further help strengthen Kenya’s army.

Read: Equities Market on a Downward Trend #CytonnReport

Nairobi already receives military support from Tel Aviv. Mr Netanyahu is on a three-day state visit to Nairobi. “We have established partnership in fighting terrorism and we will benefit from strategic intelligence,” said Mr Kenyatta in a televised joint briefing at State House.

The Kenyan shilling on the other hand was stable on Tuesday with demand for dollars from importers matched by inflows of foreign exchange from non-governmental organisations and charities.

We anticipate the shilling to hold steady against all major trade currencies in the short term supported by the Central bank’s monitoring of any signs that indicate its instability.

This is how the currencies performed…

• Against the US Dollar, the Kenyan Shilling strengthened 1.18% year-to-date.
• Against the Sterling Pound, the Kenyan Shilling strengthened 11.52% year- to-date.
• Against the Euro the Kenyan Shilling weakened 0.76% year-to-date.

Market turnover at the bourse recorded 79.3 % increase to 1,161.88 MN (USD 11.49 MN) from yesterday’s trading.

On the EAC markets;

• Rwanda:The RSE RSI and RSE ALSI remained constant to close at 142.43 and 130.06.
• Uganda:The USE ALSI and USE LSI lost 0.05% and 0.28% respectively to close at 1,695.37 and 390.58.