This archive report was first published on 14 August 2019.
Wednesday, August 14, 2019
The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has continued its downward trend for the third week in a row, with foreign investors' sales being a major contributor to the market's decline.
According to the NSE's performance, the blue chip stocks dominated NSE 20-Share Index was the worst performer, closing at 2,543 points with a -1.7 percent decline. The NSE All Share Index (NASI) was down 0.2 percent during the week, while the NSE 25-index shed 0.3 percent.
Foreign investors have been largely behind the market's downturn, with net outflows of $290,000 (about Sh29.8 million) recorded in the past week. Their participation stood at 74.9 percent, almost at par with last week's level of 72.7 percent.
Investor wealth, as measured by market capitalisation, has however gone up during the past week, gaining Sh19.6 billion to Sh2.27 trillion at close of trading. This gain was mainly due to the increase in Safaricom and Co-operative Bank stocks, which balanced out price falls from other blue chip counters.
Over a one-year period, however, investor wealth at the bourse has eroded by Sh253 billion, having stood at Sh2.523 trillion as at early August 2018.
The NSE's blues in recent weeks have also been largely attributable to underperforming large counters, with banks especially hit as they came off their dividend season.
