Low foreign buys on Wednesday pushdown Nairobi bourse

By Amina Faki

Bond turnover closed at 3.95 billion shillings, 1.2 percent lower on Wednesday from the previous session on 56 deals compared to 46 previously at the Nairobi securities Exchange (NSE)

Market activity experienced depression down 64.6 percent from Wednesday’s close.

Last week, secondary market turnover retreated slightly by 6.22 percent to post 9.86 billion Kenya shillings. Trading activity remained concentrated on the long end with increased demand on the infrastructure bonds.

Turnover shot up yesterday to 4 billion Kenya shillings driven by trades on the infrastructure bonds at rates above twelve percent. The IFBs seem to have been unable to break the psychological level of twelve percent and we don’t expect it to be broken before the end of the fiscal year.

The medium term remained relatively quiet after the 5 year auction with the average slightly above the market rate, leading to a wide bid ask spread.

Liquidity remained tight with no expectation of easing before the end of the week which should continue to slow down the secondary market.

Britam Holdings Plc (NSE: BRIT) picked up activity today, on 2.2 million shares traded by local investors.

Equity Group Holdings Ltd. (NSE: EQTY) continued receiving the most buying interest from the foreign desk for the second session this week, with net inflow of 10.4 million shillings.

Foreign investors continued exiting The Cooperative Bank of Kenya Ltd. (NSE: COOP), now for eight consecutive sessions as it nears its 1:5 bonus books closure on Friday 30th June.
On the top losers, TPS Eastern Africa Ltd (NSE: TPSE) which is looking up for closure on Friday, counter traded seven percent lower.