Nairobi Securities Exchange trading floor. FILE PHOTO | NMG
Equities turnover at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) fell 18.9 percent in the first four months of the year on continued decline in investor participation and appetite for shares at the bourse.
The bourse operators and stockbrokers face reduced revenue from the slowdown in trading.
Market data show the value of shares traded dropped to Sh33.76 billion in the review period from Sh41.61 billion a year earlier.
The volume of traded stocks meanwhile declined to 946.09 million from 1.29 billion.
The NSE has witnessed a drop in foreign investor participation and capital outflows due to the Russia-Ukraine war that has intensified exits from emerging and frontier markets seen as riskier.
Major world economies including the United States and Europe are also raising interest rates to fight inflation, reducing the appeal of investing in frontier markets.
Foreign investors previously dominated trading on the bourse, accounting for 60 to 70 percent of the equities transactions.
A recent report by the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) found that their participation had declined to below 50 percent.
The stock market sell-off has continued into this month with the share price of Safaricom— the largest company by market value and traded volumes — falling to a new 52-week low of Sh30.2 on Friday.
The telco reported a 1.7 percent net profit drop to Sh67.49 billion in the year ended March.
The monthly value of shares traded marked the largest drop in April by 38.8 percent to Sh5.9 billion from Sh9.64 billion in March.
ekivuva@ke.nationmedia.com
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