Bank’s no show sees NSE start bond trading on low in 2014

The Nairobi Securities Exchange. Photo/FILE  NATION MEDIA GROUP

In Summary

• The single transaction was 66.4 per cent lower compared to 23 transactions sealed on 

By Nation Correspondent
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Commercial banks no show at the Nairobi Securities Exchange on Thursday saw the bond market start the year on low with only one deal valued at Sh38 million concluded.

The single transaction was 66.4 per cent lower compared to 23 transactions sealed on December 31, 2013 valued at Sh1.13 billion.

“Banks and fund managers, who account for the bulk of bonds trading were mostly inactive in the first day of trading,” said Alex Muiruri, a fixed income trading analyst.

Standard Investment Bank analysts said NSE-20 Share Index started the year on a losing streak as the market received news of a grenade attack in Diani, Kenya’s south coast.

Turnover declined by five per cent compared to the previous session on December 31, 2013, “with generally low local institutional activity”.

The NSE-20 Share Index opened the year on a losing streak shedding 16.23 points or 0.33 per cent to close the day at 4910.74 compared to 4926.97 points recorded on the last trading day of 2013.

Only 11 million shares valued at Sh287 million were traded on Thursday compared to of 14 million shares valued at Sh302 million in the previous session.

FOREIGN INVESTORS

Foreign investors accounted for 70.9 per cent of traded volumes on Wednesday compared to 36.3 per cent on the last day of trading in 2013.

Last year, transaction in the bonds market ended on a low note with a 14.5 per cent decline to Sh453 billion compared to Sh530 billion as at the end of 2012.

Despite the South Sudan political crisis occasioned by a failed coup attempt on December 15, Equity Bank and Kenya Commercial Bank, which have a presence in Juba, led the movers’ pack in Thursday’s trading. The two banks had a combined trading volume of 70.2 per cent, and made moderate gains.