MyCredit Limited managing director George Mbira (left) gives a food donation to Esther Kwamboka carrying her 2 and half years old son Sam Ombonya in Kibera. [File, Standard] The coronavirus pandemic has muted activities at the Nairobi bourse, eroding the value of many erstwhile blue-chip stocks. But amid the gloom and doom, the cream of corporate Kenya has emerged. Safaricom, Equity and KCB counters have distinguished themselves as some of the star performers at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) during the peak of Covid-19 pandemic. Between April and last month when investors shunned the stock market, these counters defied the odds and occasionally bleeped green when all others were in the red zone, according to an analysis of the 10 best-performing stocks at the Nairobi bourse. After the initial shock of the pandemic that saw investors scamper for safety wore off in May, these counters were joined at the peak by Britam, KenGen, Stanbic Holdings and BAT as traders warmed up to them. Others such as Centum, NCBA, Co-operative Bank and Bank of Kigali could, however, not keep up the pace. On March 14, a day after Kenya announced its first case of Covid-19, trading at NSE was halted as traders desperately offloaded their shares, with the market capitalisation, or total wealth at the exchange, dropping by a record Sh120 billion. “The rules allow us to halt trading if the NSE 20-Share Index declines by more than five per cent,” said NSE Chief Executive Geoffrey Odundo. The NSE 20-Share Index is the benchmark index, which includes 20 blue-chip stocks. Containment measures The stock market has since stabilised, but the benchmark index is yet to hit its pre-pandemic levels of 2,600 points. By the close of business on Friday, the NSE 20-Share Index was at 1,909.36 points, up by 0.15 per cent from 1906.43 points on Thursday. The storm in the stock market the world over has calmed, with investors snapping up blue-chip stocks at a bargain. In May, for example, the total value of shares traded was worth Sh14.6 billion. This was 17 per cent more than the Sh12.5 billion worth of shares moved in the same month last year. Safaricom’s counter was the most active during this period, moving an average of Sh6 billion as the telecommunications provider continued to enjoy a good run buoyed by increased use of data by Kenyans who were working from home. It […]
Covid-19 separates the men from boys of corporate Kenya
