The Lower Eastern Times Opening The Third Eye
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Money market funds have surged as investors earn returns of up to 16%, contributing to Kenya’s strong start to the year in the capital markets, with all indices at the Nairobi Securities Exchange showing positive results.
The growth in money market funds is attributed to heightened awareness, attractive returns, and government efforts to promote financial inclusion.
Bonds and Treasury bills saw the highest turnover in the week ending February 6, with a Central Bank weekly market report revealing a Sh24 billion increase in investor wealth at the Nairobi bourse.
Market capitalization rose to Sh2.04 trillion, up from Sh2.018 trillion the previous week.
The volume of shares traded increased by 62.5%, reaching 190.83 million shares compared to 117.4 million the previous week, boosting total equity turnover by nearly 50%.
The NASI, NSE 25, and NSE 20 share price indices rose by 1.2%, 0.5%, and 0.3%, respectively.
East Africa Portland Cement led the gainers, closing the week at Sh30.45, marking a 9.34% increase.
The company is expected to attract more investors this week as shareholders anticipate the first dividend payout in 13 years. Last year, the company announced it would sell part of its assets to facilitate the payout.
Other top gainers for the week included Centum Investment, Home Afrika, and Uchumi.
Market analysts are predicting strong performance from banking stocks as they prepare to release their end-of-year results in March.
While Treasury bill rates continue to decline, they attracted the highest bids after the Central Bank reduced the base lending rate by 50 basis points to 10.75%. The Central Bank received bids worth Sh71.2 billion against an advertised amount of Sh24 billion.
