HENATES

After days of average trade, the bond market at Nairobi Securities Exchange today rallied strongly to record 67 deals worth Ksh 3.475bn compared to Ksh 1.73bn in 42 deals yesterday. There were no corporate bond deals and the only one recorded in sell or buy segment was very small but treasury bonds of below Ksh 50m part of the market was crowded with deals. In all 35 fixed income treasury stocks recorded deals and none was worth less than Ksh 1m. On the other hand, 18 stocks with above Ksh 50m nominal value witnessed deals and so, in the end, both segments contributed significantly to the leap in both traded volume and value. At the equities market, it was a different tune as traded volume dropped to 23.63m shares from 25.09m, traded value eased to Ksh 832.75m from Ksh 864.3m and yesterday's year to date top number of deals scaled down to 1326 from 1550. But the All share index closed 1.09 points up at 181.77 as Safaricom closed Ksh 0.25 up among a total of 21 price gains and inspi...

The wise ones say we should make hay while the sun shines and so, if you have enjoyed viewing and reading posts in this blog since it was started then you may be interested in knowing that Henates or Henry Atenaga turned 65 today and likes to use the opportunity to pay tribute to those who impacted on his professional career since 1976. That is, before the sun goes down and the journey beyond takes over. The first person worth mentioning is late Terry Agbelemoge, who died in 1980 as Editor Times International in the Daily Times group after years as Science editor of the Daily Times. I was a non-degree holder and still remain one and Terry it was who got me to join Times International on my own terms as Economic Reporter back in 1979, at a time graduates were still basking in the after glow of their victory over   non-graguates under the legendary Alhaji Babatunde Jose. I didn't meet Jose, by then the Daily Times had been taken over by the government. Terry turned out to be the best...

After five days of inching upwards to try to cross the 43,000 mark once again, the All share index dropped by 0.66% to 42,299.56 as 37 drops and 18 gains hinted at bearish outlook. The ASI had last dropped by 1.53% on February 19 to 41,987.74 then it started a slow and steady daily growth that by Monday made it close at 42,579.48. And indeed, the newly introduced Corporate Governance index has proven to be a reliable barometer of the market trend as it dropped for the first time since it was introduced last Thursday. It dropped by 0.53% to 1710.03 again ahead of decline in ASI thus reflecting main drivers of the drop. This is not surprising since the equities that currently make up the valuation basket cut across sectors and discriminates not in favour of capitalisation weight. The gainers were led by Nestle Nigeria and petroleum companies as market reversed its bearish gaze over the sector yesterday. Nestle closed N22 per share or 1.60% up while recording 82 deals for 2.069m worth lea...

Today at the Nairobi Securities Exchange, investors interest as reflected by number of deals struck reached a new high of 1550 for 25.09m shares since the new year valued at Ksh 25.09m. Even though the traded volume was just slightly higher than yesterday's 21.2m shares, number of deals was well ahead of yesterday's 1367 and higher than the 1519 reached on January 25 involving the exchange of 26.49m shares  It however, was short of the 1732 deals clocked on November 22, last year for 34.6m shares but surely ahead of 1499 for 34.46m shares touched by the next day November 23. Indeed, today's new high since the year more or less confirmed the relatively higher investor interest since the year as daily deals most times closed above 1000 unlike for the good part of 2017. The All share index closed up marginally by 0.04 points to 180.68 as high priced Jubilee Holdings and Diamond Trust Bank price changes made the difference in a day with 15 equal price gains and drops. Jubilee H...

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria's real gross domestic product ( GDP) grew by 0.83% out of 2016 recession as fourth quarter growth came to 1.92%. The NBS in its fourth quarter 2017 GDP report released today, after contracting by 0.91% in 2017 first quarter, the GDP managed 0.72% growth in second quarter before third quarter's 1.4% increase. Thus, quarter four confirmed recovery from recession which began in quarter four 2016 with a lower 1.73% contraction compared to quarter three's 2.34% drop. In the end, annual GDP dropped for the first in years by 1.58% in 2016 after the peak since 2011 of 6.22% growth in 2014 and reduced growth of 2.79% in 2015. What also becomes very clear from the report is the fact that Nigerian economy continues to swing up and down with international crude oil prices and domestic production of oil and gas. The oil portion of the GDP slumped by 23.04% quarter three 2016 to herald the bottom hit in that quarter and the slow rec...

As the newly introduced Corporate Governance index proved once again to be a better indicator of the All share index direction, investors seemed to be bearish about petroleum equities. The All share index edged upwards once again by 0.02% to 42,589.48 as the CG index closed at 1719.80 up 0.19% even as premium and industrial indices dropped. But more noticeable was the fact that top Naira drops were recorded in petroleum related equities. Seplat Petroleum, involved in crude production, lost N13.70 or 2% per share to pace the day's price drops. It was an easy slip for Seplat as it opened and closed at N671.40 per share compared to N685.10 earlier on Friday. This occurred as it recorded just 7 deals for 0.023m shares worth N22.36m. Total Nigeria, involved in petroleum products sale, trailed with N11 or 4.82%  drop as 112 deals for 0.34m shares worth N7.14m. In addition, 11 PLC, formerly known as Mobil oil, with core business in petroleum products, declined by N9.50 or 5% per share whi...

At the Nairobi Securities Exchange today February 26, the All share index eased by 0.14 points to 180.64 despite gains by some major high priced equities. Sure, there were 21 price drops against 13 gains but leading gains by high price equities like I&M Holdings; Williamson Tea, Standard Chartered bank and Total Kenya only slowed down the ASI growth. This was perhaps because another set of high priced equities like East African Breweries Jubilee Holdings and Diamond Trust Bank led the road downwards as Safaricom closed firm. Last Friday, I& M Holdings closed week 8 losing Ksh 4 per share to pace the market. Today, it gained back just the same amount to lead gainers as it found back and closed at Ksh 120 per share. Standard Chartered Bank and Williamson Tea  followed with Ksh 3 per share gain each. SCB hit a high of Ksh215, low of Ksh 210 then closed at Ksh 211 per share, up on the Ksh 208 on Friday. Williamson Tea, on the other hand, hit a high of Ksh 159 and low Ksh 155 per sh...