A display of listed equities at the NSE. PHOTO | CITIZEN DIGITAL Foreign investors propped up the rebounding performance of the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) by buying stocks worth Ksh.1.7 billion last month.
According to data from Cytonn Research, this represented the second straight month of positive flows into the market after a narrow Ksh.154 million net buying position in July.
Additional data from AIB-AXYS Africa show foreign investor buys in the month were roughly three times greater than selling activity with foreign buying volume at Ksh.3.2 billion and selling at over Ksh.1 billion.
The positive foreign investor participation has found anchoring from improving market performance with all three NSE indexes remaining on an upward trajectory during the month with gains of 2.7 per cent for the Nairobi All Share Index (NASI).
The NSE 20 and NSE 25 indexes have meanwhile posted gains of 2.4 and 3.3 per cent during the month.
The improved market performance has been largely backed by banking stocks including Absa, Equity Group, Standard Chartered Bank Kenya (SCBK), KCB Group which booked gains of 10.2, 8.9, 6.8 and 6.1 per cent respectively.
Equity turnover meanwhile surged by 26.3 per cent in August to Ksh.11.9 billion from a lower Ksh.9.4 billion in July.
During the month, the valuation of NSE listed stocks hit an all time high of Ksh.2.9 trillion while the NSE 25 index reached a 12 month high-4075.27 points.
“The soaring market activity is an indicator that the companies listed at the exchange are growing steadily,” said NSE CEO Geoffrey Odundo on August 17.
Safaricom has seemingly anchored the NSE 2021 lift particularly its market capitalization having broken its share price high multiple times during the month.
The share for instance touched an all-time high Ksh.44.95 on August 24.Safaricom further remained as the leading NSE counter having held 48.9 per cent of total Equity turnover during the month ahead of Equity at 11.1 per cent and EABL at 9.5 per cent.Video Of The Day: | CHASING HOPE | KEMRI undertaking stem cell research for treatment of Leishmaniasis
