International markets have been dynamic and volatile of late. Crude oil has surged through $50 and closed at a six-month high Wednesday. Lets see if it holds.I was visiting the doctor yesterday and saw folks rushing on Limuru Road towards 4th/5th Parklands Road and then I discovered it was the president making an impromptu public speech and I thought to myself that represented a smart political response to recent CORD protests. The president was asserting that he too has equity and leverage with the street.
The opposition have ''owned'' the street for a few weeks of late.
Trading was seriously lackadaisical yesterday with equity turnover clocking 184.41m.
The Nairobi All Share eased 0.49 points to close at 145.78.
The Nairobi NSE20 Index slumped 40.59 points to close at 3871.74
Commercial and Services
Safaricom closed unchanged at 17.25 and traded 3.477m shares. Safaricom is +5.82% so far this year and will glide higher as the recent noise ebbs.
WPP-ScanGroup was well traded with 583,000 shares changing hands at an unchanged 21.50. Volume action has picked up clock speed at -28.33% year-to-date.
Banks
Standard Chartered Kenya rallied a further +3.48% to close at 208.00 and that makes it a +6.66% rally over two trading sessions and since reporting first quarter earnings which topped expectations with a 46.938% acceleration in profit before tax and exceptional items to clock Sh3.69 billion. StanChart was trading at 210.00, 4.48% higher at the finish and 10,300 shares changed hands. Its a tightly held share.
Kenya Commercial Bank reported first quarter earnings after the closing bell. KCB reported a 16.4% expansion in loans and advances, a 6.11% acceleration in profit after tax. It firmed by 1.27% to close at 39.75 with 1.169m shares changing hands. KCB is in pole position to play a big role in the process of consolidation. KCB announced that it would take about 12 months to make a decision regarding a possible purchase of Chase Bank.
National Bank reported 38.4 per cent decline in Q1 earnings per share, and a 143.7% increase in gross performing loans. NBK firmed 5 cents to close at 10.05. There is a view that the bank is a prime candidate for consolidation and that the price [NSSF have a very big chunk] will be higher than here, how much higher is the curve ball.
Industrial and Allied
KenGen traded 174,000 shares at an unchanged 6.50 and below the rights price of 6.55. The price needs to hurdle the rights price offer otherwise folks will prefer to buy shares in the open market. Rights traded 9.554m times at 5 cents.