The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) opened the year on the up in Monday’s trading, largely buoyed by a gain in the Safaricom #ticker:SCOM stock.
The telco, which accounted for 57 percent traded turnover at the market Monday, saw its price rise by Sh0.20 to Sh38.15 on the back of high demand by foreign investors.
Other top gainers Monday included Nation Media Group #ticker:NMG, which was up 7.1 percent to Sh19.75 per share, and Eveready #ticker:EVRD which was up by a similar margin to close at Sh1.05 per share.
The NSE 20 Share Index ended the day 11.7 points higher at 1914 points, with the market capitalisation growing by Sh8.5 billion to Sh2.6 trillion.
Activity at the bourse had taken a lull in the previous two weeks, with most traders and investors pausing activity for the festive season.
Traded turnover nearly double yesterday on the resumption of full activity, rising by 83 percent to S630.5 million largely due to higher activity on Safaricom, Equity Group #ticker:EQTY, KCB #ticker:KCB and WPP ScanGroup #ticker:SCAN stocks.
Equity, Safaricom and KCB were among the 15 counters that recorded double digit percentage gains in price in 2021 at the bourse, with their solid fundamentals and high liquidity fuelling demand from foreign and institutional investors.
The market was helped by improved performance of the economy as the year progressed after the government eased Covid-19 restrictions which included the dusk to dawn curfew.
Economic performance data released last Friday by the Kenya national Bureau of Statistics showed the economy grew by 9.9 per cent in the third quarter of 2021, compared to a contraction of 2.1 per cent in the same quarter of 2020.
It had grown by 11.9 percent in the second quarter, and two percent in the first quarter of 2021.
Investors who had held on tightly to their cash due to uncertainty also resumed their investment activity, with some of the funds filtering through to the stock market.
