Bourse rebounds to close at all-time high by 256.7pc on Thursday

By Amina Faki

The stock market remained in a recovery phase on Thursday recouping  Wednesday session’s losses as foreign investors dominated a net buying position.

At close,  it rebounded by 256.7 percent  from a decline of 64.6 percent to clock a turnover of KES 755Mn up 256.7 percent.

Foreign investors by accounted for 83.2 percent of total market purchase and 62.3 percent of total market sales.

NSE 20 and the NASI indices dropped 0.35 percent and 0.71 percent to close at 3,596.56 million USD and 153.22 million USD respectively.

The Kenya shilling continued to deteriorate as its performance in the market weakened against major currencies.  The shilling weakened 1.2 percent, 7.1 percent and 10.4 percent against the US Dollar, the Sterling Pound and the Euro year-to-date respectively.

There was a highest turnover at 34.9 percent of the day’s market activity with Safaricom Ltd. (NSE: SCOM) seeing interest from foreign investors.

Crown Paints Kenya Ltd (NSE: BERG) continued its volatility on Thursday (+6.3 percent), as investors continied digesting its intention to buy back its shares.  The counter is trading at a steep P/E of 35X, and at 76 shillings, its 1.3 percent below its 52-week high.

Buying interest in Equity Group Holdings Ltd. (NSE: EQTY) continued in the session, mostly from foreigners for the third session this week, with net inflow of 76.4 million shillings from 10.4 million shillings.

Overall, foreign investors dominated the market at 73 percent and moved the top 3 traded counters of the day.