A trader at the NSE. The exchange closed the year as the top performing African market on the global MSCI Index. FILE
By John Gachiri, jgachiri@ke.nationmedia.com
In Summary
- The MSCI Indices 2013 Performance Results ranked the NSE as the fourth best performing stock market in the world, with a 43.58 per cent return.
- Bulgaria was the best performing market with a 91.55 per cent return, followed by UAE (79.02 per cent), Argentina (68.97 per cent).
The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) closed the
year as the top performing African market on the global MSCI Index,
putting Kenya on the radar of international investors who have appetite
for risk exposure in frontier markets.
The MSCI Indices 2013 Performance Results ranked
the NSE as the fourth best performing stock market in the world, with a
43.58 per cent return.
Bulgaria was the best performing market with a
91.55 per cent return, followed by UAE (79.02 per cent), Argentina
(68.97 per cent). Pakistan was fifth with a 27.76 per cent return.
“Frontier Markets Africa Index was the top
performing regional FM index, delivering a return of 23.49 per cent for
the period,” said MSCI in its end of year report.
Globally, gains from the NSE were also higher than the MSCI Frontier Markets (FM) Index which had a 20.53 per cent return.
On average, returns from 8,500 large and small
companies in emerging, developed and frontier markets had a 19.58 per
cent return in 2013, an increase from 2012’s 13.7 per cent returns.
The lowest performing frontier markets were
Tunisia and Ukraine which had returns of -12.44 per cent and 18.52 per
cent respectively.
Kenya’s returns are also higher when benchmarked
against the NSE-20 Share Index, the main parameter used to track
investor gains at the Nairobi bourse.
Comparative data from the bourse shows that before
Christmas the NSE-20 Share Index had gained 18 per cent from the
beginning of the year to 4,886.52 points from 4,140.43 points it opened
with on the first day of trading this year.
Despite Kenya being among the best performing
global stock markets, the fourth place rank in 2013 is a drop from the
pole position it was placed in the 2012 charts when the index recorded a
54.16 per cent return.
The MSCI Kenya Index was top on the frontier markets class in 2012.
Analysts said that they expect that both local and
foreign investors would continue to trade at the NSE, which should fuel
the bourse’s momentum in 2014.
“Investors began accumulating on prospective
counters ahead of the new year thus we anticipate gradual resurgence of
equity turnover and share prices in the mid-term as the festive period
draws to a close and economic outlook for 2014 remains positive,” said a
weekly market report by Genghis Capital.
Activity picked up from the second half of the year following a peaceful conclusion to the General Election.
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