Kenyan Shilling Rebounds Against Pound and Euro

The Kenya shilling traded in a tight range on Thursday with dollar demand from importers in sectors like manufacturing and energy being matched by inflows from exporters which hence led it to end the day at a mean of KES 101.41, unchanged from yesterday.

The shilling rebounded against the Sterling and the Euro yesterday to close the day at an average of KES 134.97 and KES 113.09 as fears continue rising about the long-term impact of Brexit on the world economy, with warnings that Britain-one of the world’s largest financial hubs- could slip into recession in the current quarter.

Market…

The stock market recorded a decline in activity as all the indices ended in the red. The NSE 20 Share index reversed its two-day consecutive uptrend as it lost 15.25 points to close the day at 3464.48 points while the NASI dropped 1.90 points to settle at 143.39 points.

The NSE 25 Share index decreased by 34.99 points to 3937.55 from 3972.54 points previously. Market capitalization was down marginally by 1.31% to KES 2065.164 billion from KES 2092.629 yesterday, whilst equity turnover reduced by more than half to KES 0.36 billion on account of a drop in the volume of shares traded.

Read: KCB’s Price Remains Unchanged Despite 13% Increase in PAT

KenolKobil announced a 30% growth in net profit after tax in the first half of 2016 when compared to a previous similar period. The net profit after tax for the first half of 2016 was recorded at KES 1.19 billion from KES 0.92 billion for 2015.The performance was attributed to a positive contribution across the group from all business segments and management’s focus on high yield segments.

The company took an impairment provision of KES 400 million against the KPRL yield shift exposure. KenolKobil grew its volume by 23% due to an increase in retail network stations across the group by 20 service stations. Financing costs came down significantly by 74% in the period. The company recommended an interim dividend of KES 0.15 up from KES 0.10 for 2015 with books closure and payment set for 26th August 2016 and 30th September 2016 respectively.