HENATES

At the Nigerian stock exchange today marked the third day since the take of the new pricing method and as expected, more par value equities, long isolated from change, continued to go down. In particular, one of them, LASACO insurance went down each day and today paced % price drops with 8.70% or N0.04 per share decline. LASACO closed yesterday at N0.46 per share, opened today at N0.44 then slipped some more to N0.42 per share while witnessing 7 deals for 415,000 units worth N0.17m. Close on its trail were two other hitherto par value equities: Law Union  & Rock Insurance which closed down by 8.33% or N0.08 per share and new comer to the downwards trend: Unic which eased by N0.04 or 8% . Law Union posted 10 deals for 415,000 shares worth N0.32m. Also new was Cornerstone Insurance which lost N0.02 per share as it brought the number of old par value equities down today to 6. The other 3 were ABC Transport; Royalex and Prestige Assurance. There were 30 price drops with International B...

In the financial year to September 30 2017, Kenya's Eveready East Africa PLC was not quite ready for what the election year had to offer in Kenya but it did make one crucial move: It sold a major asset to stay afloat. According to the audited figures released this week by board Chair, Mrs Lucy Waithaka, the year was tough what with uncertainties of the elections; weaker credit growth and drought in Kenya. So much so that Eveready's income from core business declined by 38.7% to Ksh 338.9m from Ksh 553.3m in 2016 year.  Even though cost of sale dropped at a faster 40.8% to Ksh 251.6m leading to only 31.9% decline in gross profit to Ksh 87.3m, growing overhead by 11.3% to Ksh 330.46m, was more than enough to land the company in loss league. That was despite the handy 917% growth in other income to Ksh 49.5m and drop in finance cost by 86.5% to Ksh 9.736m. That it instead reported profit before tax of Ksh 249.1m as against Ksh 218.96m loss previously was mainly because the sale of...

For Guinness Nigeria, the current financial year ends by June this year but from the half year figures released this week, the company was saved by the rights issue it successfully handled within the year. Guinness had raised through rights N342.2m share capital at hefty N38.48bn premium and it certainly made a difference  So much so that much of the N3.54bn profit before tax reported compared to N4.662bn loss at the same time last financial year, could be traced directly to efficiencies or relief brought about by the new money. By half year, overdraft was down by 65.3% to N2.61bn; short term loans dropped 81.7% to N1.73bn and long term liabilities decreased by 67.5% to N8.09bn. The net result? Finance cost went down by 21.6% to N4.79bn and finance income rose by 9.84% to N1.68bn. Bulk purchase too and others funded through cash in hand must have helped too to make cost of sale grow by only 13.2% to N46.56bn in an inflationary environment  core revenue recorded therefrom rose by 18.6% ...

At the Nigerian stock market today,Tuesday, January 30 2018, a cluster of 4 double digit % gainers led 34 gainers to drive the All share index up a third consecutive day but at a lower 0.42% to 44,493.79. Yesterday, it had recovered by 1.22% after Friday's 0.56% increase to apply the brakes on previous 4-day run downwards that made it look like the market was trending down at last after booming since late year. Diamond Bank, up N0.29 per share clustered 10% gain with Honey Well Flour, up N0.28 per share; Skye bank up N0.14 per share and Sterling bank with N0.20 per share gain. Incidentally, all of them except Sterling bank recorded top five volume trade for the day.  Diamond bank recorded offload of 2nd highest 99.86m shares in 401 deals worth N318.38m; Skye bank chipped 3rd ranked 93.6m shares in 463 deals worth N141.45m and Honey Well Flour mills which also released last figures today, witnessed exchange of 4th placed 87.17m shares in 492 deals worth N260.88m  The leading traded ...

At the Nairobi Securities Exchange today Tuesday January 30, 2018 Kakuzi PLC and British American Tobacco ( BAT) virtually did a tug of war over the All shares index which Kakuzi won. The All share index eased by 0.12 points to 181.06 without a change in the price of Safaricom and some other major high priced equities as Kakuzi dropped by Ksh 35  to Ksh 355 per share  It had hit new year high of Ksh 390 per share yesterday but promptly settled at Ksh 355 today while witnessing deals for only 200 units. It was more or less helped to pull the ASI down by 18 other price drops with Stanbic Holdings trailing Kakuzi down Ksh 4.50 per share as it closed at Ksh 80 per share after hitting day high of Ksh 80.50 and so down on Monday's closing Ksh 84.50 per share. Diamond Trust Bank too added little shoulder to the wheel downwards by closing Ksh 2 per share down. On the other side of the tug of war were 18 price shift upwards led by BAT as it settled at Ksh 779 per share after closing yesterd...

In the financial year to September 30, 2017, there the general in Car & General (Kenya) Plc did not stand for victorious general in time of war but, regrettably for the vanquished general. According to audited figures for the year released this week by the managing director, V V Gidoomal, the year ended with lower margins for Car & General in spite of good props from income from non-core transactions and valuations. For example, Other income rose to Ksh 257.5m from only Ksh 32.5m in 2016 year; and gain from fair valuation of financial assets rose by 49.2% to Ksh 229.5m. Yet because revenue from core business dropped by 1.03% to Ksh 9635.2m; the growth in total income came to only 1.92% to Ksh 10,122.2m compared to Ksh 9,931.2m in the previous year. To make matters worse, core revenue drop was not accompanied by decrease in cost of sale. It rose by 0.39% to Ksh 8184.9m from Ksh 8152.8m thus depressing gross profit by 8.39% to Ksh 1450.2m. From then on, the victorious g...

Today at the Nairobi securities exchange, the All share index went down by 0.53 points to 181.16 despite a higher number of price gains (20) than price drops (15). The reverse was the case on Friday when 21 gainers were able to drive the ASI upwards despite 18 price drops. This could be partly because last Friday Safaricom ended Ksh 0.25 per share up but today lost it again to close at Ksh 29.75 per share. It had closed at Ksh 30 on Friday after touching all time high of Ksh 30.50 but it jit a low of Ksh 29.50 today before closing at Ksh 29.75 per share. In the end, its leading 3.95m shares exchanged today were sold at between Ksh 29.50 and 30 per share resulting in Ksh 47m traded value or one of the lowest recorded in Safaricom for a while. The top price drop for today was however, recorded by British American Tobacco as it dropped by Ksh 10 to close at Ksh 760 per share followed by Kapchorua Tea, down Ksh 1.50 per share and Unga group with Ksh 1.25 per share drop and Standard...

As the new pricing method took effect from Today, January 29 2018, at the Nigerian stock exchange, high margin price changes in equities priced above N100 was not in sight but middle priced and some par equities felt the pinch. Of the odd 10 equities quoted above N100 and so expected to change at a wider margin of 10k only Dangote Cement up N7.9 or 3.04% made the 41 price gainers to pace Naira gains. It opened the day at N260.3 per share, struck day low of N260.2 then closed at day high of N268, up on N260.1 per share last Friday  Two other above N100 equities paced Naira drops: Guinness Nigeria lost N2 per share or 1.79% and Nigerian Breweries declined by N1.80 or 1.19% per share  Guinness opened at N112 per share at which it closed Friday but slipped to close today at N110 per share. In all below N5 per share equities dominated price gains as 26 out of the 41 gainers fell in this group. And, to boot 15 of these priced equities with gains were banks. ...

The Securities and Exchange Commission of Nigeria will soon introduce two new rules and some amendments to existing rules and regulations guiding the Nigerian capital market. The two new rules are one that provides for definition and registration of Capital Market Holdings Companies (CMHC) and another on direct cash settlement of transactions on behalf of clients. The CMHC new rules were actually being re-exposed following January 2017 first exposure and comments from stakeholders that resulted in some restructuring. Under the new rules, CMHCs are defined as "corporate structure where a parent-subsidiary relationship exists with the parent and subsidiaries carrying out capital market operations". This relationship exists, says the new package, where control is exercised through 50% and above shareholding or where less than 50% holding has capacity to also control the subsidiary through power over investees. SEC is to register, regulate and approve the operations of ...

Today January 26, 2018 top capitalised equity at the Nairobi Securities Exchange touched a new year high of Ksh 30.50 per share then closed at Ksh 30, up Ksh 0.25 on its previous high of Ksh 29.75 per share. From yesterday's Ksh 29.75 per share close, it had hit day low of Ksh 29.50 then the new year high before closing up. This was partly instrumental to the All share index ending the day up by 1.14 points at 181.69 which itself was 1.52 points or 0.84% higher than last Friday's close. Decoded the bulk of the ASI week 4 upswing was clocked today but certainly not on the shoulders of Safaricom alone. Top gain was by high priced Bamburi Cement up Ksh 3 per share as it closed at Ksh 173 per share after hitting day low of Ksh 172. This was followed by Kapchorua Tea with Ksh 2.50 per share advance and NIC up Ksh 1.25 per share. The day's top drops include Ksh 5 per share easing by British American Tobacco to Ksh 770 per share; and Ksh 2.25 per share price decline in Eaagads. In...

Today, Friday January 26, 2018 at the Nigerian stock Exchange, week 4 ended on a note that says it is not yet over yet for new year bulls after 4 consecutive days downwards dimmed hopes. The All share index closed 0.56% up at 43,773.76. Though still far from recent high of 45,092 and all time high of 46,000 in 2008, it acted as a check on downwards trend since the week. The ASI had dropped by 0.4% on Monday; eased faster by 1.16% on Tuesday and then by still higher 1.64% on Wednesday before slowing down to 0.99% drop to 43,529.06 on Thursday. The day's reverse trend occurred 11 price drops were recorded including very marginal 0.04% decline by Dangote Cement compared to 40 price gains, including 12 banks. The drops were paced in % terms by Con Oil down N2.06 or 4.98% per share as it touched and settled at N39.32 per share compared to N41.38 yesterday. It was trailed by Tripple Gee which eased by 4.95% or N0.05 per share but leading Naira drop was by Guinness Nigeria down N4.1 or 3....

If nothing else, there is one hole in the pocket of East African Breweries PLC that may affect its fortunes this financial year ending June 2018.  So hints unaudited half year figures to December 2017 released this week. It is a hole by cost of sale. According to the figures released by Company secretary, Joyce N Munene, the group's net revenue grew by only 4.68% to Ksh 36.8bn from Ksh 35.15bn but cost of sale grew its own wings up by 12.3% to Ksh 20.83bn from Ksh 18.56bn. And that made all the difference. Even though EABL was able to hold down total costs growth to 1.39% to Ksh 8.686bn, the damage was already done and profit before tax ended the half year at Ksh 7.28bn, down 9.34%. However, EABL is hopeful that this will be a temporary set back since, says Munene, it was due to weakening of the Kenyan market in a trying election year; excise tax regime change in Uganda; accelerated sales and advertising promotion costs and, equally important, due to 14% rise in capital expenditure...

The year to March 2018 my offer Chellarams plc a long sought for breather but what happens after that depends on what gets done now  The breather is in the form of leap in income from activities other than its main business which by Nine months to December 2017 had increased from N120.3m same time in 2016 to N3.348bn. According to unaudited figures for the period released this week, this not only increased total income by 25.3% to N11.916bn but more importantly boosted the company's profit before tax to N2.522bn from N402.7m and of course, made it more liquid. Chellarams working capital rose to N2.77bn from N535.2m previously and helped in no small measure in reducing finance cost by 41.7% to N522.9m from N897m by December 2016. But something has to be done to maintain this beyond the current year. Partly because the other income were principally from sources that offer annual repeat guarantees like sale of plant and machinery, foreign exchange gains, loss provision no longer neede...

Just it happened in 2008, it looks investors perception of bank prospects, is dragging the Nigerian stock market down once again. At the market January 24, 2018, the All share index for  third consecutive day dropped but this time by 0.96% or 426.45 points to 43,963.40. The ASI had crossed the 45,000 mark on Friday much in line with bullish trend since late 2017 as rising crude oil prices beefed up Nigeria's foreign reserves and restored both local and foreign investors confidence. It then dropped by 0.4% on Monday before slipping by a higher 1.16% on Tuesday to engender fears that the boom in the market was over. Of the 43 price drops recorded Wednesday January 24, 15 were by banks or bank dominated groups. Indeed, of the top 10 drops by %, 6 were related to banking as dominant business with the top 4 % drops among them. A total of 7 equities clustered around 9% price drop and only 1 was non bank related: Transcorp PLC, down 9.35% or N0.20 per share. FCMB led the pack down N0.33 o...

It looks like Oando plc is on its way out of the hook of the Securities and Exchange Commission which recently ordered its suspension from the Nigerian stock market with a court order reversing this later to give Oando a breather. Even though SEC is believed to have headed for the higher court to ensure its order stays in place, news from Oando in a release on Monday signed by Company secretary and chief compliance officer, Ayotola Jagun, is that Alhaji Dahiru Mangal, the shareholder who petitioned SEC and Oando have reached a peace accord brokered by the Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi 11. According to Jagun, under the accord Alhaji Mangal has been accorded his rightful status of substantial shareholder since he has above 10% interest shareholding in Oando. As a substantial shareholder, he is entitled to nominate his representative on the board of Oando. Also, Alhaji Mangal was encouraged to, like every shareholder, exercise his right by law to over sight  the company and get...

After days with average daily trade, the bond market today, Wednesday, January 24, 2018 at the Nairobi securities exchange witnessed a major comeback with 55 deals worth Ksh 4.58bn compared to Ksh 1.77bn in 46 deals yesterday. There wer no deals in corporate bonds but activities in other sectors of the bond market picked up remarkably with Sell or buy recording deals in 4 stocks worth Ksh 1bn total and 29 infrastructure bonds nominally valued below Ksh 50m witnessed deals led by Ksh 48m each in two of them. As usual, Government fixed income bond of above Ksh 50m nominal value recorded top traded value as 14 of these stocks recorded deals paced by Ksh 1.499bn worth of deals in 5year fixed income issued in 2016 at 13.1129% due September 2021. At the equities market however, trading was down although investors interest remain high leading to increase in number of deals from 1148 yesterday to 1171 despite the drop in both traded volume and value. Traded volume for the day dropped t...

From next Monday, January 29, 2018, you may notice equities quoted in the Nigerian stock exchange changing price with wider Naira and Kobo margins which may result, temporarily may be, in remarkable changes up or down in the All share index. This is because, from this date, the methodology for price fixing at the market has been adjusted and this will take effect. According to the Exchange's head pf Surveillance Abimbola Babalola in a training session for stock market correspondents and analysts yesterday, the current system which remains relevant till Monday divides equities in the market into two categories: A and B. The A companies are the ones trading at N100 and above per share while B companies trade below. To move the price of A equity upwards or downwards you must have not less than 10,000 units to sell or buy and such movement can only be in margins of one kobo. As for B companies, you need at least 50,000 units to move price by the same one kobo. In the new pricin...

Is the honeymoon over at the Nigerian stock exchange? Is the market heading back to its old grind of up today, down tomorrow? Today January 23, 2018, for the second day the All share index closed down, thus at best punctuating the coaster ride of sorts since the beginning of the year. The ASI dropped by 1.16% to 44,389.85 thus even going down faster when compared to the 0.4% drop recorded yesterday, Monday to start week 4. Agreed, the first punctuation of the upwards ride occurred on January 18 as the ASI slipped 0.08% to 44,848.74 from 44,885.24. But it did recover from that to hit new high of 45,092.83 on Friday. If the honeymoon is over, then it is likely to have happened rather early because crude oil prices are still high enough to continue to boost the Nigerian economy, particularly foreign reserves for a while. But then it could also be a byproduct of the weakness in the market itself being an emerging one in which price swings in some major equities point the way for the whole ...

Today at the Nairobi Securities Exchange, the All share index recovered from yesterday's drop with 0.62 points increase to 180.43 but the market was bearish on bank and agriculture sectors. In the case of banks, 8 price changes were recorded by 7 were downwards with NIC pacing down with Ksh 1.25 per share drop followed by Equity group which declined by Ksh 0.75 per share. In the case of the agriculture sector, all four price changes were downwards with Kakuzi leading with Ksh 1 per share drop. In all there were 24 price drops but the ASI closes upwards despite only 11 equities ending with gains.  Top gainers include B O C Kenya up Ksh 9 per share as it closed at Ksh 109 after hitting day high of Ksh 110 and low of Ksh 105 per share. Its trail upwards was followed by East African Breweries up Ksh 3 per share as it settled at Ksh 247 per share after day high of Ksh 250 and low of Ksh 245. Then Diamond bank, Bamburi cement and Crown paints trailed  with Ksh 1 per share rise each. Howe...

Against market mood today, Monday January 22, 2018, the All shares index at the Nairobi Securities Exchange eased by 0.36 points to 179.81 as 24 price gains and far lower 13 drops were recorded. The issue was that Safaricom accompanied three high priced equities downwards while the price gains recorded, tbough more, were rather marginal. Top gain was by East African Breweries as it hit day high of Ksh 246 per share, low of Ksh 242 before closing at Ksh 244 per share, up Ksh 4 on last Friday's close. It was trailed by Unga group with Ksh 2.25 per share gain; Stanbic Holdings and Crown Pains up Ksh 1.50 per share each and Sanlam Kenya which paced rather bullish insurance sector with Ksh 1.25 gain per share. Of the 6 insurance equities with price changes, only Jubilee Holdings went down and relatively big too. It lost Ksh 5 per share after touching day high of Ksh 510 per share, before closing at Ksh 500 per share. Yet, it did not pace drops for the day. That honour went to B O C Keny...

A total of 33 publicly quoted companies and 435 directors have met Nigerian stock exchange corporate governance rating system (CGRS) launched in 2014 after being introduced in 2012. According formal announcement today by the Steering board of the CGRS, celebration and presentation of the award certificates to the winners will come up next month and it promises to have two men as star participants; Kola Jamodu and Aliko Dangote. Of the 33 companies, 25 crossed the finish line of 70% and above score this month while seven made it since 2014. Of the 25 new comers, Kola Jamodu is the chairman of the board of directors of two: PZ Cussons and Nigerian Breweries. He has been identified with PZ Cussons for a very long time. Aliko Dangote, on the other hand, piloted top capitalised Dangote Cement through the finish line in 2014 and added Dangote Sugar refinery to the list this month. However, there were very many veteran board members and men who made names for themselves from years of working ...

According to latest Labour statistics released by the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics today for the third quarter of 2017 about 15.99m Nigerians or some 18.8% of 85.08m work force were technically unemployed with the period. These were Nigerians who either worked less than 20 hours in a week (8.46m) or had nothing doing at all (7.53m). With this unemployment rate, Nigeria now most likely ranks 38th among the world's highest unemployment rate. This because, according to online reports, CIA World Factbook ranked worldwide unemployment by January 1 and put Nigeria at 52nd with 13.4% unemployment rate  However, the NBS rate puts Nigeria higher up on the index which saw African countries accounting for 6 out of the top 10 nations in terms of unemployment rate. Zimbabwe led the index with 95% unemployment rate, followed by Burkina Faso 77%; Djibouti 60%; Syria 50%; Senegal 48%; Kenya 40% and Democratic republic of Congo 36%. Based on NBS estimate and even the CIA index...

Week 3 closed today at the Nairobi Securities Exchange with Ken Kobil in the Energy and Petroleum sector recording unexpected offload. It witnessed deals for 369.977m shares thus bringing its total number of shares that changed hands within the week to 385m traded at between Ksh 14.6 and 15 per share worth Ksh 5.5bn. Ken Kobil by today had issued capital comprising 1.471bn shares and so, today's volume represented some 25% of this issued capital. Who offloaded and why, of course, a good question to seek answers for better investment decision making. This impact of the offload on trading was obvious: the day's traded volume jumped to 387m shares compared to 33.7m yesterday and traded value came to Ksh 5.96bn as against Ksh 1.014bn previously. It also shot up week 3 trading to Ksh 8.9bn in value compared to Ksh3.2bn in week 2 and 482m shares as against 113m shares previously. It thus dwarfed even Safaricom and fellow power companies even though Kenya Power and Lighting also recor...

Already January so far has witnessed continued growth in market trading activities and particularly, in All share index which give the impression that 2017 superlative ending for the Nigerian stock exchange will not be an exceptional one. But then, sometimes, trends in emerging markets can be deceptive primarily because dominant equities have a way of distorting indices and sporadic offload is more the norm, than the exception. This is all because quoted companies are yet very few and speculators are even fewer since there is limited spectrum for institutional investors to compose and review their portfolio and since most retail investors buy to hold against the future. Looking at the prospects of the market last Tuesday, the CEO Mr Oscar Onyema hinged his optimism mainly on projections by the IMF that the Nigerian economy will grow, not decline, by 1.9% in 2018; on the fact that stronger global economy will have its impact on the Nigerian one; on the potential for still higher global ...

Today Wednesday, January 17, at the Nigerian stock exchange, the All share index scaled another decade high closing at 44,885.24, up 1.89% on yesterday's previous high. Even though the % growth represents a slow down of sorts on yesterday's 2.17%, it is higher than what was achieved in the golden days of the 2008 boom before historic crash. This time, however, price gains in the industrial sector drove the ASI upwards more than more traditional premium board did. The industrial index grew by 4.42% to 2364.73, well ahead of the ASI growth and also, ahead of 3.74% increase in premium index to 3137.05. Despite leading N16.50 or 8.27% growth in 11 PLC (Mobil oil of yore), the Oil and gas index rose only nearly in step with ASI closing at 366.35, up 1.79% on Tuesday's 359.9. 11 PLC opened the day at N209.47 per share, then closed at day high of N216 compared to N199.5 per share yesterday. Dangote Cement was very much part of the push upwards for ASI as it re...

At the Nairobi Securities Exchange today Wednesday, January 17, 2018, the commercial and services sector closed bearish thus helping to drag the All share index down 0.16points to 177.67. In all there were 9 price changes in the sector and all pointed down. Nation Media, down Ksh 5 per share led sector and market price drops for the day as it hit day high of Ksh 114; low of 107 before closing at Ksh 109 per share. All other price drops in the sector were below Ksh 1 per share each paced by Ksh 0.75 per share drop in TPS Eastern Africa before WPP Scan group and Kenya Airways Ksh 0.25 per share decline each. Other price losers in the sector were Nairobi Business Ventures, down Ksh 0.15 per share and the cluster of Deacons, Ever ready, Sameer Africa and Uchumi Supermarket with Ksh 0.05 decline per share each. But beyond the sector,  Nation Media trail was followed by Unga group, down Ksh 1.75 per share and the duo of Car & General; Stanbic Holdings, with Ksh 1.50 per share drop each. ...

In spite of the chronic fuel scarcity in the country for the better part of December 2017 which led to skyrocketing transport fares and other related cost heads, the National Bureau of Statistics NBS, in its consumer price index report released today, January 16, says Nigeria's inflation rate dropped further to 15.37%, year on year  This was 0.53% points lower than the growth rate in the composite index year on year by November 2017. And thus marked the eleventh month inflation will consistently eased down as the nation stretches limps humbled by 2016 depression. The composite index was driven more by top price increases in bread and cereals; potatoes and other tubers; cocoa and tea; milk, cheese and eggs and oils and fats, says the NBS. Transport fares by air or by road did not make top price shoot up list. It did feature though amongst the drivers of core index minus food. However, the housing, gas and fuel index did show some remarkable year on year increases but about the same ...

With the formal approval of ultimate capital market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission, a lady has been appointed to wield the big stick at the Nigerian stock exchange. She is Ms Tinuade Awe the erstwhile general manager Regulation and general counsel, who has been appointed executive director Regulation with effect from January 1, this year. As ED she is in charge of broker regulation; market surveillance and investigations and regulatory technology. Hitherto, she had responsibility for some of these functions as general manager but not as executive director. Besides she now wears expanded shoes in view of restructuring needed after two EDs: Ade Bajomo and Haruna Jalo-Waziri left in the twilight of last year. Says President of NSE council, Mr Abimbola Ogubanjo of her appointment: " Am proud that the national council has recognised Tinuade for the exemplary role she played in transforming the legal and regulation landscape of the exchange " ...

After last Friday's punctuation, the All share index at the Nigerian stock market recovered 0.51% today Monday January 15 2018 to hit a new 8year high of 43,119 but more on the back of Dangote Cement and fellow premium equities  The ASI had dropped on Friday after 5 days upwards that resulted in crossing 8 year high for the first time on Thursday before the punctuation. In each of those bullish days, number of price gains consistently outdistanced number of price drops but today, gainers and losers were even at 26 and the main push upwards for ASI came from 1.37% rise in the premium index to 2934.88. This was as Dangote Cement paced Naira gainers with N3.00 per share of 1.19% although International Breweries shared the N3.00 gain level with it. Propping the premium index further, Zenith bank rise by 2.37% to N32.60 per share and FBN Holdings added 0.78% to close at N11.66 per share  Leading % gain was however by FCMB as it closed N0.26 or 9.84% up at N2.79 per share followed by Sky...

Despite recording 23 price gainers as against 20 losers, the All share index at the Nairobi Securities Exchange closed 1.3 points or 0.74% up today, Monday January 15 as British American Tobacco gained Ksh 22 per share. The ASI swing upwards was, however, helped more by Ksh 0.50 per share rise in Safaricom ltd. As the dominant equity by market capitalisation, it helped the ASI much more as Safaricom hit a new all time high of Ksh 29.25 per share, before closing at Ksh 28.75 which was still Ksh 0.50 higher than Friday's Ksh 28.25 per share. BAT had just risen to Ksh 775 per share and held on there till the end of day, thus topping with leading Ksh 22 per share as deals were struck for only 200 shares  Trailing from quite a distance was Kakuzi in the agricultural sector up Ksh 5.00 per share followed by Eaagads in the same sector with Ksh 2.75 per share gain and East African Portland which ended the day Ksh 1.75 higher. The losers, on the other hand, were led by high priced Bamburi C...

After 5 consecutive trading days of searching for a peak, the All shares index at the Nigerian stock exchange finally today, Friday, January 12, eased by 0.33% to 42,848 from yesterday's new high of 43,041.54 It had risen to 38,676.12 last Friday after dropping by 0.20% the previous day. From there the search for a cap began as it closed at 38,923.21 on Monday, 38849.65 on Tuesday and 41,816.11 on Wednesday before hitting yesterday's high which has now, at least even if temporarily, turned out to be the needed cap. Part of the reason was that Dangote Cement did not change; Zenith bank dropped N1.75 per share and FBN Holdings managed only N0.04 per share top up. Thus in the end, premium index dropped to 2895.20 from 2922.43 leaving industrial index and a couple of others to attempt staying on course upwards  That was not possible as 31 price drops as,against 30 gains were recorded unlike in the past four days when gainers overwhelmed losers in number and change in Naira and Kobo...