Market Turnover Up 50.3% As Shilling Dips Farther

The market turnover at the Nairobi Security Exchange went up by 50.3 percent to USD 5.24 million or an equivalent of 542.69 million shillings on Monday.

The NSE 20 and NASI dropped by 0.06 and 0.86 percent respectively to close the day at 3,797.96 and 163.09 respectively.

At the same time, foreign investors assumed a net selling position by accounting for 62.4 percent of the total market sales and 56.8 percent of all the market purchases.

The Kenyan shilling continued its weakening trend into the second week of this month. According to a report released by Cytonn Investment, the shilling had depreciated by 0.5 percent for the month of October but was optimistic that it would remain resilient as political temperatures cooled down.

On Monday, the shilling weakened against the US Dollar by 1.15 percent on a year-to-date basis. The shillings dipped farther against the Sterling Pound by 8.23 percent while weakening against the Euro by 12.76 percent.

On the East African Community Markets, in Rwanda, the RSE RSI and RASI declined 0.81 percent and 0.05 percent to close the day at 132.40 and 133.05 respectively while in Uganda, the USE ALSI and USE LCI increased 0.10 percent and 0.03 percent to close at 1,750.09 and 385.19 respectively.

Political uncertainty

Although some economic analysts had expressed optimism that the political temperatures were cooling down and that the economy would, therefore, reciprocate positively, a dark cloud still hangs ahead.

A petition has been filed at the Supreme Court of Kenya to challenge the reelection of President Uhuru Kenyatta hence putting on halt his swearing-in ceremony that was to take place on 14^th. The opposition, National Super Alliance, on the other hand, has initiated a boycott movement urging its supporters to boycott the use of certain products and services from various companies.