Kenya Equities Market Weekly Update – 2nd May 2025

The equities market continued its downward trajectory for the second consecutive week, with major indices posting declines across the board. The NSE 20 registered the steepest weekly drop at 2.1%, followed by NSE 10 and NSE 25, which fell by 1.3% each. The benchmark NASI also dipped slightly by 0.2%. On a year-to-date (YTD) basis, the market remained mixed, with NSE 20 and NASI posting marginal gains of 2.3% and 0.2% respectively, while NSE 10 and NSE 25 were down 4.1% and 2.3% respectively.

Market Movers

The week’s performance was significantly impacted by losses among several large-cap counters:

• Standard Chartered Bank (-10.1%)
• Co-operative Bank (-10.0%)
• NCBA Group (-8.4%)

These declines outweighed gains by:

• Safaricom (+4.7%)
• Equity Group (+1.3%)
• EABL (+0.6%)

The decline in banking stocks notably dampened investor sentiment, despite slight recovery in key blue-chip stocks such as Safaricom.

Regional Market Insights

The East African Exchanges 20 (EAE 20) Index edged up by 0.1% to 100.1, supported by regional performance from:

• Bank of Baroda Uganda (+8.8%)
• Absa Bank Kenya (+2.4%)
• Stanbic Uganda Holdings (+2.3%)

However, gains were partially offset by:

• Cooperative Bank of Kenya (-9.9%)
• KCB Group (-1.1%)
• I&M Rwanda (-0.2%)

Investor Flows

Investor activity was subdued, with weekly turnover falling sharply by 44.3% to USD 9.8 million, from USD 17.6 million the previous week. Cumulative YTD turnover reached USD 261.4 million.
Foreign investors remained net sellers for the fourth straight week, recording a minimal net selling position of USD 0.02 million, down from USD 1.9 million in the previous week. This brings the YTD foreign net selling position to USD 31.7 million, nearly double the USD 16.9 million recorded in 2024.