Traded turnover in both bonds and equities markets at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) rose last month, buoyed by higher appetite for large cap stocks and infrastructure bonds.
Data from the stock exchange shows that bonds turnover rose by 41 per cent to a five-month high of Sh74.1 billion last month from Sh52.7 billion in January. The value of equities traded went up by 22 per cent to Sh10.8 billion from Sh8.8 billion in January.
The activity on the equities market was backed by price increases on large cap stocks such as Safaricom , BAT Kenya and Co-operative Bank , with investors eyeing dividends in the case of Safaricom and BAT.
The telco is paying an interim dividend of Sh0.45 a share, on which books close tomorrow, while BAT announced on February 19 that it will pay a final dividend of Sh41.50 per share, to shareholders on its books by April 16.
There was a rise in demand from local investors, with foreign investors in turn cashing in on the gains to reverse the net sales they had made in January.
“Foreign investors turned net sellers withdrawing $5.6 million (Sh615 million) in February compared to a net buying position of $5.6 million in January,” said analysts at NCBA in a note.
The NSE’s indices were all up during the month, led by the All Share Index at 6.3 per cent, with the financial heavy NSE 25 share index up 5.5 per cent and the blue chip NSE 20 index up 1.8 percent.
Investor wealth at the bourse went up by Sh150.9 billion during the month, to hit Sh2.541 trillion.