Attractive stock valuations drive Kenya’s equities market up

The Kenyan stock market is hitting new peaks with NASI, NSE 25 and NSE 20 having gained  4.3 percent , 2.8 percent and 1.9 percent, respectively last week.

The upward trend took their  YTD performance to 29.2 percent, 28.6 percent and 27.7 percent, respectively.

“This week’s performance was driven by gains in select large cap stocks such as Safaricom, Co-operative Bank and KCB Group, which gained 9.3 percent, 4.6 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively,” according to market analysts from Cytonn.

Since the February 2015 peak, the market has lost 2.9 percent and 26.0 percent for NASI and NSE 20, respectively.

Equities turnover decreased by 23.9 percent to close the week at USD 29.7 mn from USD 39.0 mn the previous week.

Foreign investors remained net sellers with a net outflow of USD 21.9 mn compared to a net outflow of USD 1.3 mn recorded the previous week. Foreign investor participation increased to 73.8 percent from 56.9 percent recorded the previous week.

“We expect the market to remain supported by improving investor sentiment and attractive stock valuations,” Says Cytonn Investments.