Stanbic Bank Kenya’s PMI Hits a 22-Month High in February

Last month’s Stanbic Bank Kenya Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for the month of February touched 54.7, a 22-month high. The print showed a 25 percent weight survey-record rise in output and a 30 percent weight upsurge in new orders since the beginning of 2017. This is the third consistent month the business is depicting growth in its operations.

The progress in the activity is owed to bold underlying demands as well as better inflows of new ventures. The strong demands drove the companies to increase the buying activities in February. As opposed to last year’s seven-month contraction, the PMI reading has returned to normal in last three months sustained by the ease of political perils.  A revision of the current interest rate law will also sustain the uptrend in the PMI over the year.

Market turnover revenue closes low as trades push higher rates

The market gross revenue closes lower at 1.2 billion shillings and trades pushing at relatively higher rates. with trades going through at slightly higher rates. The yield curve has relaxed as low volumes are registered while few sellers offer up.

Today’s CBK auction committee meeting with varied market sentiment has a push for a 5-year paper backed by the shorter-term investors while the longer-term investors are vouching for a long paper. Notably, this is an excellent opportunity for CBK to a fresh long-term paper they can utilize to fix a cheaper coupon and pick affordable cash now that the domestic borrowing pressure has eased.

The overnight rate closed at 4.5 percent yesterday as it continued to slide for the better part of the day. The prediction is that the trend carries through to around 20^th March quarterly tax payments when pressure mounts. Yesterday the shilling lingered around 101.30 /35 and ended the day at 101.35. Hopefully, it will carry on within this range.