Foreign Exchange Reserves
The usable foreign exchange reserves stood at USD 7,031 million (3.80 months of import cover). This falls short of CBK’s statutory requirement to endeavour to maintain at least 4.0 months of import cover as well as the EAC region’s convergence criteria of 4.5 months of import cover.
Currency
The Kenyan Shilling appreciated against the Dollar, the Sterling Pound and the Euro to exchange at KES 145.86, KES 183.53 and KES 156.95 respectively. The observed appreciation against the Dollar is attributed to strong investor participation in the 2014 Eurobond buyback tender which was oversubscribed, showing a boost in investor confidence, improved diaspora remittances and tourism inflows.
Currency | YTD Change | W-o-W Change |
---|---|---|
Dollar | -7.09% | -8.89% |
Sterling Pound | -8.17% | -9.14% |
Euro | -9.61% | -8.98% |
Liquidity
Liquidity in the money markets tightened, with the average inter-bank rate increasing from 13.14% to 13.62%, as tax remittances more than offset government payments. Remittance inflows totalled $412.40 million in January 2024, a 10.68% increase from $372.60 million in December 2023 and an 18.03% rise from $349.40 million in January 2023. Open market operations remained active.
Liquidity | Week (previous) | Week (ending) |
---|---|---|
Interbank rate | 13.14% | 13.62% |
Interbank volume (billion) | 31.83 | 43.40 |
Commercial banks’ excess reserves (billion) | 16.20 | 27.30 |
Fixed Income
T-Bills
T-Bills remained over-subscribed during the week, with the overall subscription rate decreasing to 177.79%, down from 213.00% recorded in the previous week. The 91-day T-Bill received the highest subscription rate at 654.07% while the 182-day T-Bill and 364-day T-Bill had subscription rates of 112.29% and 52.78% respectively. The acceptance rate decreased by 2.57% to close the week at 92.93%.
T-Bonds
In the secondary bond market, there was a higher demand for the week’s bond offers. Bond turnover increased by 2.67%, from KES 23.41 billion in the previous week to KES 24.03 billion. Total bond deals decreased by 26.48% from 457 in the previous week to 336.
In the primary bond market, CBK released auction results for the infrastructure bond IFB1/2024/8.5 which sought to raise KES 70.0 billion. The issue received bids worth KES 288.66 billion, representing a subscription rate of 412.37%. Of these, KES 240.96 billion worth of bids were accepted at a weighted average rate of 18.46%.
Eurobonds
In the international market, yields on Kenya’s Eurobonds decreased by an average of 0.87% compared to the previous week, 1.54% month-to-date and 1.00% year-to-date. The yields on the 10-year Eurobonds for Angola also declined while that of Zambia increased. Below is a summary analysis of performance for individual bonds.
Bond | YTD Change | M-o-M Change | W-o-W Change |
---|---|---|---|
2014 10-Year Issue | -4.79% | -5.23% | -0.92% |
2018 10-Year Issue | -0.57% | -1.11% | -1.21% |
2018 30-Year Issue | 0.14% | -0.19% | -0.36% |
2019 7-Year Issue | -1.03% | -2.02% | -1.51% |
2019 12-Year Issue | 0.05% | 0.45% | -0.73% |
2021 13-Year Issue | 0.18% | -0.26% | -0.48% |
Equities
NASI, NSE 25 and NSE 10 settled 0.11%, 0.55% and 0.38% lower while NSE 20 settled at 0.33% higher compared to the previous week, bringing the year-to-date performance to -0.97%, 0.84%, 0.63% and 0.41% respectively. Market capitalization lost 0.12% from the previous week to close at KES 1.42 trillion, recording a year-to-date decrease of 0.97%. The performance was driven by losses recorded by large-cap stocks such as NCBA, EABL and Standard Chartered of 3.46%, 2.84% and 0.91% respectively. This was however mitigated by the gains recorded by Equity, ABSA and Safaricom of 1.34%, 0.41% and 0.38% respectively.
The Banking sector had shares worth KES 225M transacted which accounted for 22.23% of the week’s traded value, Manufacturing and Allied sector had shares worth KES 63.5M transacted which represented 6.27% and Safaricom, with shares worth KES 653M transacted represented 64.51% of the week’s traded value.
Top Gainers and Losers in the Equities Markets
Top Gainers | YTD Change | W-o-W |
---|---|---|
Crown Paint | 12.20% | 11.11% |
EA Portland | 9.50% | 9.50% |
TP Serena | -1.54% | 6.67% |
Britam | -2.92% | 6.17% |
Kenya Power | 12.86% | 6.04% |
Losers | YTD Change | W-o-W |
---|---|---|
ScanGroup | 0.00% | -13.49% |
Express | -13.51% | -9.86% |
Total | -8.33% | -7.04% |
New Gold | -7.17% | -7.01% |
Diamond Trust | 1.79% | -6.66% |
Alternative Investments
Losers | Week (previous) | Week (ending) | % Change |
---|---|---|---|
Derivatives Turnover (million) | 0.52 | 1.20 | 129.15% |
Derivatives Contracts | 23.00 | 12.00 | 91.67% |
I-REIT Turnover (million) | 1.05 | 0.00 | -100% |
I-REIT deals | 94.00 | 00.00 | -100% |
Global and Regional Markets
Global Markets | YTD Change | W-o-W |
---|---|---|
S&P 500 | 5.54% | -0.42% |
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) | 2.42% | -0.11% |
FTSE 100 (FTSE) | -0.13% | 1.84% |
STOXX Europe 600 | 2.73% | 1.39% |
Shanghai Composite (SSEC) | - | - |
MSCI Emerging Markets Index | -0.82% | 2.08% |
MSCI World Index | 3.66% | 0.11% |
Continental Markets | YTD Change | W-o-W |
---|---|---|
FTSE ASEA Pan African Index | -3.16% | -0.18% |
JSE All Share | -3.15% | 0.45% |
NSE All Share (NGSE) | 39.13% | 3.79% |
DSEI (Tanzania) | 0.17% | 0.14% |
ALSIUG (Uganda) | 2.40% | 1.82% |
The US stock market ended the week in the red zone, buoyed by higher-than-expected Consumer Price Index (CPI) data revealing persistent inflation. This dampened investor hopes for a near-term rate cut from the Federal Reserve.
The European stock market closed the week in the green zone, fueled by positive corporate earnings reports in France and Germany. Additionally, investors assessed comments from ECB President Lagarde on the eurozone’s disinflation trajectory, further boosting the optimistic sentiment.
Asia Pacific Stocks surged on Friday, fueled by anticipation of the Chinese market reopening next week after a holiday. Traders flocked to China-exposed stocks, pushing the Hang Seng index near a month-high.
Week’s Highlights
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