Equities
On Thursday’s trading session, the bourse was characterized by key improvements on the indices and the market capitalization. The NSE-20 share index gained by 0.37% to close at 3180.29 points while the NSE All Share Index advanced by 0.09% to close at 130.87 points.
Equity turnover and market capitalization posted varied trends with the former declining significantly by 70.77% to close at KES 0.582 billion and the latter garnering 0.08% to close at KES 1.885 trillion. Market breadth, an unbiased measure of the market performance, indicated that the market conditions had slightly improved; with the A/D ratio closing at 0.76x from 0.73x.
Eveready E.A Ltd (NSE: EVRD) has issued a profit warning alert as the company anticipates its earnings for the period ended 30th September 2016, to be at least 25% below the profit reported in a similar period last year. The company attributes the profit warning alert to the decrease in revenues caused by a prolonged stock out during the year. Eveready E.A reported a KES 77.7 million net loss in the year ended September 2015. The stock was on a downward trajectory, plummeting by 2.44% to close at KES 2.00 during today’s trading session.
Currencies
The Kenya shilling ended Thursday on a sour note weakening against six of its seven International and regional currency pairs. The USDKES remained stable albeit the demand pressure to meet retail importers’ dollar requirements. Across the pond, the British pound strengthened against the local currency buoyed by the wave of positive economic data that have been announced in the last few days.
The GBPKES shed 0.07% to close at 135.44. The Euro currency gained 0.76% catapulted by the European Central Bank decision to maintain the base interest rate at 0.00%. The central bank also reiterated that aggressive measures – further quantitative easing – would not be pursued in the near future; that would propel Euro strength in the coming days. The shilling weakened 0.02% marginally against the Euro to close at 113.10. On the regional front, the South African rand gained 0.78% against the shilling to close at 7.25 buoyed by the economic data that showed uplift in China’s imports that bolstered the commodity-rich country’s prospect.