HENATES

The All share index today Friday March 16 2018, dived back below 42,000 it had found pretty  difficult to scale in the past. It dropped by 0.59% to 41,935.90 crossing 42,000 range in  just two days after  rising slightly to 43,073.45 on Tuesday. One thing was sure though: The undulating trend noticed up to Wednesday was broken yesterday when instead of an increase, it dropped further to 42,185.38 instead of closing up to fit the undulating mould. The Friday slide was in spite of leading N1.40 or 0.53% increase in the price of Dangote Cement and as 37 drops had been recorded compared to only 16 price gains. The losers were dominated by 12 insurance companies; 9 banks or bank dominated group and 5 manufacturing companies while 6 manufacturers and 3 banks held sway among the gainers. Dangote Cement closed yesterday at N262.60 per share; opened and closed the day at N262.50 after touching day high of N264 per share. This was while witnessing 62 deals for 0.94m shares ...

Week 10 ended today March 16, 2018 at the Nairobi Stock Exchange with up to 7 major price gains out of 17 total gains compared to 12 price drops, all less than Ksh 1 per share each. Hence the All share index closed up by 1.21 points or 0.66% to 184.08 new high. However, it would have closed far higher had Safaricom and some other top weighted equities not closed firm. The pace setting gain was by British American Tobacco on the day it was expected to close its register in order to determine those entitled to the Ksh 22.50 per share dividend in the offing. Simply by finding and closing at N699 per share BAT added leading N23 per share to its yesterday's Ksh 676 per share while recording deal for only 100 shares. No doubt, the leap was in response to the dividend proposed which will eventually reduce the price when it finally goes ex-dividend. Much in the same way too East African Breweries rose by Ksh 7 per share to trail the BAT lead from a distance. EAB closed yesterday at Ksh 245...

For the 5th day, today March 14, 2018 the All share index at the Nigerian Stock Exchange kept faith with its up today, down tomorrow trend with ).54% or 233.9 points decline to 42,839.52. It had closed up last Friday at 43,167.86 compared to 43,090.55 on Thursday then dropped to 43,056.51 on Monday only to rise again to 43,073.51 yesterday. Yesterday's rise was powered by leap in Nestle Nigeria and Dangote Cement among others but today, Nestlé lost all of the N20 per share it gained yesterday. While recording 46 deals for 0.295m shares worth N404.92m, Nestle opened at N1365 per share then recovered slightly to close at N1380 per share but this was exactly its Monday price from which it led all gains yesterday. Dangote Cement on the other hand closed marginally up by N0.4  per share as it posted just 28 deals for 0.041m shares worth N11.11m. That means that Nestlé led 41 other price drops, all of them way behind Nestlé decline to depress the ASI. Nestlé's Naira drop per share wa...

Two days to the close of register to determine who is entitled to the Ksh 22.50 per share dividend proposed by the directors, British American Tobacco PLC today March 14 2018 bounced from year low with a record Ksh 53 per share. BAT had closed yesterday at year low Ksh 650 per share almost like end point to downwards trend over time, but hit day high of Ksh 710 before closing at Ksh 703 per share, up Ksh 53 per share or by 8.15%. Its year high remains Ksh 920 and it does not look likely to touch that before the register is closed on Friday March 16 to determine those entitled to the proposed dividend. The leap came almost from the blues because BAT closed yesterday Ksh 1 per down even as Safaricom helped drive the All share index upwards by 1.49 points to 182.74. Today, with Safaricom closing firm and 16 price gains and 19 drops being recorded, BAT more or less drive the ASI further into new high of 183.67, up 0.83 points. BAT also witnessed top traded value in the Manufacturing and Al...

NIGERIA: NESTLÉ NIGERIA PLC: Div:       N27.50 per share Qualication date:    4/5/2018 Reg. Closure:       7-11/5/2018 Payment date:        23/5/2018 AGM date:               22/5/2018 AGM venue: Muson Centre, Victoria. Island. ZENITH BANK: Final div:         N2.45 per share Total div:        N2.70 per share Qualification date:     3/4/2018 Reg.closure:        4-9/4/2018 Payment date:     13/4/2018 AGM date:             13/4/2018 AGM venue:   Shehu Musa Yar'Adua Centre Abuja. NASCON ALLIED. INDUSTRIES PLC: Div:               N1.50 per share Qualification date:  19/4/2018 Reg closure:         20-23/4/2018 Payment date:     8/5/2018 AGM date:            3/5/2018 AGM venue:        Civic Centre, V/Island. MCHNICOLS CONSOLIDATED: Div:         3 Kobo per share  Qualification date:  19/3/2018 Reg closure:            20-23/3/2018 Payment date:        24/4/2018 AGM date:               19/4/2018 AGM venue:       To be announced later MED-VIEW AIRLINES PLC: Div:        3kobo per share Qualific...

For the second day running, today March 13 witnessed leading offload of Zenith Bank shares as equally day high 756 deals were struck involving 70.26n shares worth also leading N2.189bn. Yesterday, investors had scrambled for more the 78m units at the market thus bringing total offload so far this week to more than 148m shares. This figure though is just about 0.47% of Zenith's 31.396bn issued shares. What makes it interesting is that selling now meant losing the dividend for 2017 financial year being recommended to shareholders by Directors at the next annual general meeting. This time though Zenith bank was not alone. Fellow premium equity, FBN Holdings also recorded exchange of 53.02m shares in equally 2nd placed 409 deals worth 3rd ranked N605.3m. For a short while Zenith looked like ending with some price gain as it opened the day at N31.4 per share, hit a high of N31.5 then declined to low of N30.3 before closing at N30.45 per share compared to N31 yesterday. And so both equit...

The All share index closed up rather strongly today March 13, 2018 at the Nairobi Securities Exchange perhaps hinting at new optimism in the face of final meeting of minds between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his political rival, Raila Odinga. The ASI rose by 1.4 points or 0.82% to new high of 182.74 but though relatively strong, it is no where near the giddy growths recorded by November 2017. Top growth last November was 4.27 points to 167.90 on the 23rd, followed by 3.90 and 3.45 points rise on 22nd and 21st respectively. Since this year, top growths were recorded in January paced by 1.87 points to 176.07 leaving February and early March with average growths and rather strong dives. Today's leap occurred as 15 price gains and 13 drops were recorded. Not quite a bullish session and can be explained more by Ksh 0.50 or 1.71% per share rise in the share price of Safaricom. Safaricom witnessed deals for relatively low 4.67m shares worth Ksh 139.7m or 14.79% of market traded value of ...

Helped by major price gains by Jubilee Holdings and East African Breweries, bullish price gains in the banking sector today at Nairobi Securities Exchange drove the All share index up by 0.65 points to 181.26. This was despite slight drops in trading as traded volume dropped to 18.78m shares from 29.85m; traded value closed at Ksh 729.58m and number of deals declined to 1286 from 1425 on Friday. There were 8 price changes in the banking sector and all were positive. Standard Chartered Bank led both the sector and the market as it closed Ksh 8 per share up while recording deals for 11,000 units. It hit day high of Ksh 218 per share, then a low of Ksh 212 before closing at Ksh 217 per share compared to Ksh 209 per share on Friday. In the sector, this was quite a distant pace as next to it KCB Group and Stanbic Holdings rose by Ksh 0.50 per share each and Equity Group and NIC group followed with Ksh 0.25 per share after National Bank's Ksh 0.30 per share gain. The rest two price gaine...

Despite prospects of N2.45 per share dividend per share for 2017 financial year, Zenith Bank witnessed offload of 78.96m shares today March 12, at the Nigerian Stock Exchange that resulted in a scramble of sorts. Mopping up the rare offers resulted in day high 889 deals which for the first time in weeks paced number of deals and pushed FBN Holdings to second place with 376 deals. The Zenith offload too led trades value for the day too as it came to N2.45bn or about 24% of the total traded value of N10.56bn for the day. Zenith had gained N0.1 per share within the day as it opened at N30.95, hit day high of N31.9 and low of N30.0 before closing at N31 per share, up on Friday's N30.9 per share. The proposed dividend for 2017 compares well with N2.02 per share in 2016 but in spite of this, 203.6% increase in loan provision to N98.23bn gives course for concern even though being allowed by the Central Bank to propose dividend implies no trouble with capital adequacy and non performing lo...

Offload in Access Bank today, Friday March 9, 2018 put smiles on investors faces as week 9 drew to a close at the Nigerian stock exchange. In all, 181 deals were recorded in Access bank for leading N1.19bn shares valued at day high N15.48bn. Thus, the bank accounted for 78.4% of the day's traded value and 77.7% of traded volume. It was also the first time since this year  that above 1bn shares will change hands in a day. Indeed, all through February the highest traded volume was 1.87bn witnessed by Sterling bank followed by two other equities with above 1bn  On November 17 2018 Sovereign Trust Insurance recorded deals for 1.58bn shares worth N790m to pace volume since then while Dangote Cement on the same day witnessed 186 deals for 131.27m shares worth record N27.63bn. Today's trade in Access bank comes to 4.12% of its 28.9bn issued capital and the bank ended the day up by N0.05 per share as it opened at N12.85, hit day low of N12.8 then rallied to close at N13 per share. In t...

Today Friday March 9, 2018 week 9 ended with Kakuzi ltd tumbling by Ksh 20 per share to close at Ksh 360 thus helping to bring the All share index down by 0.67 points to 180.60. The last time Kakuzi declined that much was on February 21 when it closed Ksh 35 per share down at Ksh 355 per share but that exactly the amount it gained earlier on February 19 to close at new year high of Ksh 390 per share. Today, closing at Ksh 360 per share from yesterday's Ksh 380, was rather easy as it found and closed there in one go. Kakuzi thus led 24 price drops today from a distance as it was followed by still declining Jubilee Holdings. Jubilee closed once again down Ksh 9 per share but not easily as Kakuzi found its weekend level. Jubilee hit day high of Ksh 520 per share and a low of Ksh 506 before closing at N513 per share compared to Ksh 522 per share yesterday. Other major price drops include Ksh 3 per share decline by BOC Kenya; Ksh 2.50 per share drop by rarely traded Car and General and ...

After crossing into the 43000 range on Monday and edging further in with 0.22% growth yesterday, the All share index was back in the 42,000 range today as it dropped by 1.51% to 42,952.70. Sure, it is not too far from 43,000 but below all the same and it is hard to tell if it is heading for another struggle to brake out of 42,000. Before crossing to above 43,000, it had been more than a week long struggle to cross the 42,999 borderline and getting there earlier had offered some relief. This time the ASI dropped remarkably because Dangote Cement led 23 price drops with N9.9 ot 3.6% per share drop. It had closed yesterday at N274.90 per share, opened the day at N274.50 then slipped further to close at N265 per share,  This was as it recorded 88 deals for 3.33m shares worth 2nd highest N889.76m. Total Nigeria was close on its heels as it lost N9.8 or 3.92% per share while recording 28 deals for 0.074m units worth N18.35m. Nestlé Nigeria was yet another price loser as it witnessed 69 deals...

Today the Nairobi Securities exchange was more bullish especially in its outlook on banks, Safaricom and energy equities leading to strong 1.14 points rise in the All share index to 182.16. At the banking and energy and petroleum sectors all price changes recorded were positive and added to Ksh 0.25 per share rise in the price of Safaricom, this made a lot of difference. In all 20 price gains were recorded compared to 14 drops. Out of the gainers, 6 were from the banking sector led by Ksh 1 per share rise by Diamond Trust Bank and Equity Group followed by Ksh 0.75 per share gained by NIC bank; Ksh 0.50 up by KCB group; Ksh 0.15 and 0.05 per share increase by Cooperative bank and National bank respectively. At the energy and petroleum sector, none of the gains were up to Ksh 1 per share with Kenol Kobil pacing with Ksh 0.20 per share; trailed by Ken Gen up Ksh 0.10 per share and Ksh 0.05 per share each by Kenya Power and Uganda based Umeme. Top gain, however was by Nation Media up Ksh 3...

Some decades ago, at the Nigerian stock exchange, under the call over system with manual erasing and writing of new prices on the board, prices could be made even if you have no shares and stocks to sell or buy. The call over chairman retained the right to disallow any price changes and even any deals struck. Most times, whenever he deemed it fit, he asked any price maker to defend the new price and also check the order books of stockbrokers to be sure there are truly instructions to sell or buy. Of course, the system contained potential for abuse. For example, a willing call over chairman could rubber stamp deals that were not actually made on the floor especially when it involved scarce and highly sort after equities. Also, many companies had arrangements with choice stockbrokers to defend their prices at the market relative to competitors prices and overall market trend. This was because, then new prices can be made not only when you want to sell but also when latest macroeconomic a...

Today at the Nigerian stock market, the weakness in the newly introduced Corporate governance index as an indicator of market trend showed as it dropped by 0.02% to 1728.15 while the All share index closed up 0.22% at 43609.77. Since it was introduced the CG Index had stayed well ahead of the direction of the ASI thus hinting at possible useful tool for market monitoring but today's opposite closing to ASI growth marked a difference. This could be because the sectors with more impactful price changes this time around were yet to have many or influential listed companies amongst those who have been honoured for their corporate governance score. Oil and Gas paced gains as its index closed up 1.44% to 376.76 implying it was the major driver of ASI upwards. Consumer products sector also rose by 0.95% to 991.70, ahead of ASI growth and in contrast to the CG index drop and 0.2% and 0.05% growth in  main board and premium indices respectively. There were 29 price drops and 26 gains led by...

On the surface, what may look strange occurred today at Nairobi Securities Exchange as two major  weighted equities: British American Tobacco (BAT) and Jubilee Holdings closed down by Ksh 7 per share each but the All share index rose instead by 0.11 points to 181.02. Sure, there were more price gains ( 19) than drops (16) but the point was that compared to the drops in those two equities, only Standard Chartered Bank weighted relatively high too, rose by Ksh 5 per share to come close to the leading drops recorded. Hence, with top weighted Safaricom closing firm once again, it should have been easier for ASI to head downwards with the duo. It didnt but that was because Standard Chartered Bank found good support from equities like KCB Group and Bamburi Cement which feature among the market's top 10 by market capitalisation. On the other hand, only BAT and Cooperative bank were among the top 10 by capitalisation amongst the day's price losers because Jubilee features among...

Seplat Petroleum today at the Nigerian stock exchange closed a handsome N59.9 up per share after a brief period of heading down each day and so, heralded major 637.7 points or 1.49% rise in the All share index. The ASI rise was not the highest leap in recent weeks because last Wednesday the ASI did rise by 1030.98 points or 2.44% but compared to dive by 1.12% on Thursday and gentle 0.08% increase on Friday, it amounted to a real leap. Seplat lead 32 gainers for the day as it opened at N734per share, rose to N740 in open trading then closed at day high N760 per share. It however recorded only 58 deals for 0.697m shares worth 2nd highest N528.36m  In the price gainers camp, Seplat was in good company as Total Nigeria trailed from a distance with N11.5 per share gain; Dangote Cement applied good shoulder by closing N10 per share up and as Presco closed with N5.25 per share gain. None of them witnessed fantastic deals and traded volume but added to Beta Glass N3.6 per share gain, they made...

Today was a day of overwhelming price drops at the Nairobi Stock market as 24 equities lost ground compared to only 4 with gains. Surprisingly, this led to only 0.38 points drop in the All share index to 180.91 but it was clear there was bearish under tone. Of the four price gainers, two were in the banking sector: Equity group and KCB Group while one each were so counted in commercial and services sector and manufacturing: Express Kenya and Mumias respectively. Top gain was by Equity Group in the banking sector up Ksh 1 per share as it recorded deals for sale of 3.576m shares at between Ksh 46 and 47.50 per share worth Ksh 168m. With KCB also up by Ksh 0.25 per share, there is no room though for assuming banking was bullish today. It was in fact bearish as 7 price drops were recorded compared to the two gains. The day's lead drop was in fact witnessed by Standard Chartered Bank as it closed Ksh 5 per share up after finding and settling at Ksh 205 per share. BOC Kenya too touched K...

It was more or less a tug of war today March 2, at Nairobi Stock Market between British American Tobacco and Kakuzi ltd to determine direction for the All share index and BAT won, barely. The ASI closed the day down 0.73points at 181.26 as British American Tobacco found and closed at Ksh 700 per share, down Ksh 69 on Thursday's Ksh 769 per share. Kakuzi, on the other hand took a leap to Ksh 390 per share, up Ksh 35 per share but failed push the ASI upwards. It was a close call because  there were equal number of price gains and drops (18). Major declines that helped BAT win the tug of war were Kapchorua Tea in the same agriculture sector with Kakuzi, down Ksh 2 per share and Nation Media It also certainly helped that weighty Safaricom closed down by Ksh 0.25 per share. On the other hand, some high priced equities lined up behind Kakuzi led by Standard Chartered Bank, up Ksh 3 per share; I &M Holdings with Ksh 2 per share increase and Ksh 1 per share top up each by Stanbic Holdi...

After a very bullish January which was a follow up of the trend late 2017, the Nigerian stock market turned bearish in the month of February, 2018, according to statistics released by the NSE this week. Compared to January, some 75 equities recorded price drops compared to only 26 with gains and what is more, the margins of gains were no where near those of price drops. None of the price gainers topped up with up to N10 each while four at least dropped by multiples of or above N10 per share. Leading the decline was 11 PLC (formerly Mobil Oil) as it closed at N183 per share, down N32.10 per share from January's closing N216 per share. As usual, highest priced equity, Nestle Nigeria went through ups and downs through the month but in the end, it closed N28 per share down at N1442 per share on Wednesday, the last trading day in February compared to N1470 per share by January close. Another major decline was by Seplat Petroleum. It lost N24.50 per share to close at N660 compa...