Safaricom Top Traded Stop, Stanbic Top Gainer As Markets Exhibit Mixed Notes

Safaricom Top Traded Stock, Stanbic Top Gainer As Markets Exhibit Mixed Notes

By Standard Investment Bank / Published January 13, 2024 | 10:47 am

KEY POINTS

Equity turnover edged downward by 86.3% to USD 0.2m. Local investors dominated market activity, accounting for 75.9% of the day’s turnover up from 18.1% in the prior session.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Safaricom was the top-traded stock, accounting for 20.5% of the day’s activity. The counter cooled off its two-day relief rally – remaining unchanged at KES 13.90.

The market closed the session on a mixed note with the N10 shedding 0.3% while the NASI, NSE 20, and NSE 25 gained 0.1%, 0.5%, and 0.3% respectively.

Equity turnover edged downward by 86.3% to USD 0.2m. Local investors dominated market activity, accounting for 75.9% of the day’s turnover up from 18.1% in the prior session.

Safaricom was the top-traded stock, accounting for 20.5% of the day’s activity. The counter cooled off its two-day relief rally – remaining unchanged at KES 13.90.

Banking stocks dominated the day’s trading activity with KCB Group gaining 0.2% to KES 22.00. Equity Group and Co-op Bank shed 0.1% and 0.4% to KES 35.80 and KES 11.25, respectively. I&M, a surprise top mover, remained unchanged at KES 17.50.

Jubilee was a surprise top mover. The stock shed 1.9% to KES 180.00 on foreign selling.

Stanbic was the day’s top gainer on a 9.8% rally to KES 111.75 while Sameer shed 9.4% to KES 2.13 – closing as the day’s top loser.

Foreign investors turned net sellers with net outflows of USD 85.1K. Jubilee led the selling charge while NSE led the buying charge.

In the news; in line with the Capital Markets (Securities) (Public Offers, Listing, and Disclosures) Regulations 2002 – which requires all listed firms to notify shareholders and the general public when anticipating a decline of 25% or more in their profit before tax – the board of directors of Limuru Tea Plc has issued a profit warning for the financial year ending 31st December 2023.

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The estimated decline in FY2023 earnings is largely on the back of increased operation costs attributable to; (i) Increased labour costs driven by higher industry wage rates,(ii) the Impact of KES/USD exchange rates over the financial year on fertilizer imports, and (iii) A projected loss in biological asset valuation.

In retrospect, the company posted a KES 16.3m profit before tax in FY2022 – a growth from the KES 14.2m loss printed in FY2021. As of the half year ended 30th June 2023, the company posted a loss of KES 2.5m down from KES 6.4m profit before tax posted in a similar period in 2022.