Trading activity at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) on Friday moved up to 37 million shares with a market value of KSh 1.7 billion from 22 million shares with a market value of KSh439 million traded on Thursday.
There was a 67% improvement in volume, 283% improvement in turnover and 20% improvement in deals from Thursday’s trading.
GAINERS AND LOSERS
Standard Group was the top gainer for the day with 10% share price appreciation closing at KSh 19.80 per share. It was followed by Kenya Airways, Eveready East Africa, and Sameer Africa.
Top loser was Nairobi Business Ventures whose share price declined by 10% to close at KSh 0.54 per share. It was followed by Transcentury, Eaagads Limited, and Umeme Limited.
Safaricom was the lead mover with a volume of 13.4 million traded shares, followed by Equity, KCB, and East African Breweries.
The benchmark NSE All-Share Index [NASI] gained 1.14 points to close at 135.33. The NSE 20 Share Index gained 5.28 points to close at 1975.30. The NSE 25 Share Index gained 11.37 points to close at 3179.99.
CENTRAL BANK OF KENYA
The Central Bank of Kenya(CBK) weekly bulletin shows that the Kenya Shilling remained relatively stable against major world currencies. It exchanged at KSh 106.59 per US dollar on May 14 compared to KSh 106.08 on May 7.
The Treasury bills auction on May 14 received bids totaling KSh 24.1 billion against an advertised amount of KSh 24.0 billion, representing 100.4 percent subscription.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Global financial markets sentiment remained edgy as the negative impact of COVID-19 continues to be felt.
Despite the optimism arising from the gradual easing of lockdown in some countries, signs of weak economic performance in the Eurozone were shown in the contraction of the German economy by 2.2 percent in the first quarter of 2020, the sharpest contraction since the financial crisis.
CRUDE OIL PRICES
International oil prices increased during the week following optimism arising from the gradual easing of the lockdowns in some countries.
Murban oil price increased to US$ 30.34 per barrel on May 14 from US$ 27.67 per barrel on May 6th, 2020.
