Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) yesterday resumed trading amid low activities after the Friday halt when the benchmark NSE 20 index dropped by more than five per cent.
The market opened at 2128.45 points, representing a 0.715 per cent increase compared to Friday when it dropped 15 per cent to 2124.78 points at 2.38pm after opening at 2236.81.
"The market is open and we will continue to update the public on any new development. We are hopeful that the market will stabilize but we continue to monitor and we will advise accordingly. I urge investors not to panic and take advantage of unprecedented stock discounts,’’ NSE CEO Geoffrey Odundo said.
The top five movers Safaricom Plc. KCB Group, Equity Group, Coop Bank and Scan Group that account for almost 70 per cent of daily trading at the bourse continued to record a significant drop in both share value and trade volumes.
KCB Group’s share price, for instance, dropped by Sh2.40 to trade for Sh40.25, representing a 5.63 per cent drop while Equity Bank Group shed 4.89 per cent to trade at Sh39.85 compared to Sh41.90 on Friday.
Cooperative Bank and Scan Group which were among the top five movers on Friday were replaced by Kenya Power and East Africa Breweries Limited which moved 368.700 shares and 419,700 shares respectively with a combined market capitalization of Sh146.5 billion.
Kenya Power’s share price improved marginally in value from Sh1.98 to Sh1.99 while that of EABL dropped 2.45 per cent to Sh180.50 from Sh185.
Safaricom Plc, the biggest mover, failed to hit the normal above Sh1 trillion market, closing the day at Sh979.6 billion after moving 44.23 million shares. KCB Group, on the other hand, moved 6.45 million shares with a total value of Sh129.24 billion, a drop compared to a market cap of Sh136.9 billion Friday.
According to market analysts, Coronavirus menace is likely to exacerbate already loaming bear run at the Nairobi bourse mostly controlled by foreigners now shifting to stronger markets.
According to Mark Limo, a Stock Broker, foreigners who have invested in most blue-chip stocks at NSE control over 50 per cent of daily trading.
''Any slight movement by foreigners due to volatility hit hard NSE. This is worsened by the fact that the top five counters control over 75 per cent of the market capitalization,’’ Limo said.
Yesterday, NSE opened up its platforms to bankers, stockbrokers and asset managers as well as individuals, wishing to trade from their homes as the worldwide panic surrounding the Covid-19 virus continues to bite.
It advised traders to access the bourse from remote locations or their homes not to interrupt NSE’s automated trading system (ATS).
The shilling, on the other hand, dropped to above Sh103 margin against the dollar as coronavirus
