This archive report was first published on 23 December 2019.
At the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), Sameer Africa stood out as the top performer in 2019, while Kenya Airways struggled to stay afloat.
According to a review of the year's performance, Sameer Africa's share price gained 81 percent since the start of the year, closing at Ksh3.35 on Thursday. This meant that an investor who invested Ksh1 million in the stock on January 2 would have gained Sh810,000.
On the other hand, investors who bought Kenya Airways shares worth Ksh1 million suffered a loss of Ksh773,000, as the share price shed 77.3 percent since the start of the year to stand at Ksh2.02 at close of trading on Thursday.
Sameer Africa's impressive performance was despite the company's half-year losses widening to Ksh182.8 million. The company's success was attributed to the removal of the rate cap in the fourth quarter, which gave large bank stocks a boost, alongside the NIC-CBA merger.
"These small cap stocks like Sameer see price shifts based on thin volumes, hence the big story in the market this year has been the removal of the rate cap in the fourth quarter, which alongside the NIC-CBA merger has given the large bank stocks a shot in the arm," said Standard Investment Bank analyst Martin Kirimi.
The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) is on track to make a 16.6 percent return in 2019, with the market gaining Ksh348 billion so far and all shares valued at Ksh2.45 trillion, a reversal from last year when it shed Ksh400 billion.
