Foreign Exchange Reserves
The usable foreign exchange reserves stood at USD 6,722 million (3.60 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 depreciated against the Dollar, the Sterling Pound and the Euro to exchange at KES 152.81, KES 191.65 and KES 166.60 respectively. The observed depreciation against the Dollar is attributed to a high demand from energy and commodity importers.
| Currency | YTD Change | W-o-W Change |
|---|---|---|
| Dollar | 23.81% | 0.39% |
| Sterling Pound | 28.86% | 1.42% |
| Euro | 26.54% | 0.79% |
Liquidity
Liquidity in the money markets marginally decreased, with the average inter-bank rate increasing from 11.08% to 11.26%, as tax remittances more than offset government payments. Open market operations remained active.
| Liquidity | Week (previous) | Week (ending) |
|---|---|---|
| Interbank rate | 11.08% | 11.26% |
| Interbank volume (billion) | 25.29 | 23.88 |
| Commercial banks’ excess reserves (billion) | 16.80 | 22.10 |
Fixed Income
T-Bills
T-Bills remained over-subscribed during the week, with the overall subscription rate declining to 115.11%, down from 208.32% performance recorded in the previous week. The 91-day T-Bill received the highest subscription rate at 584.91% while the 182-day T-Bill and 364-day T-Bill had a subscription rate of 23.79% and 18.52% respectively. The acceptance rate increased by 6.31% to close the week at 96.39%.
T-Bonds
In the secondary bond market, there was a higher demand for the week’s bond offers. Bond turnover increased by 18.52% from KES 12.13 billion in the previous week to KES 14.37 billion. Total bond deals increased by 41.16% from 656 in the previous week to 926.
In the primary market, CBK reopened a 6.5-year infrastructure bond, IFB1/2023/6.5, through a tap sale in an effort to raise KES 25 billion. The coupon rate is 17.93% and the sale runs from 21/11/2023 to 06/12/2023.
Eurobonds
In the international market, yields on Kenya’s Eurobonds decreased by an average of 0.69% compared to the previous week, a 1.22% month-to-date loss and a 0.73% year-to-date gain. The yields on the 10-year Eurobonds for Angola and Zambia declined. 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 | -0.02% | -1.75% | -1.20% |
| 2018 10-Year Issue | 1.27% | -1.31% | -0.75% |
| 2018 30-Year Issue | 0.46% | -0.69% | -0.32% |
| 2019 7-Year Issue | 1.10% | -1.50% | -0.88% |
| 2019 12-Year Issue | 0.69% | -1.01% | -0.52% |
| 2021 13-Year Issue | 0.90% | -1.08% | -0.49% |
Equities
NASI, NSE 20, NSE 25 and NSE 10 settled 1.92%, 2.59%, 2.09% and 1.89% higher compared to the previous week, bringing the year-to-date performance to -27.56%, -9.86%, -23.00% and -6.60% respectively. Market capitalization also gained 1.92% from the previous week to close at KES 1.44 trillion, recording a year-to-date decline of -27.37%. The performance was driven by gains recorded by large-cap stocks such as NCBA, ABSA, Stanbic, KCB and Safaricom of 6.87%, 4.98%, 4.80%, 2.84% and 1.86% respectively.
The Banking sector had shares worth KES 177.7M transacted which accounted for 34.22% of the week’s traded value, Manufacturing and Allied sector had shares worth KES 86.9M transacted which represented 16.74% and Safaricom, with shares worth KES 154M transacted represented 29.78% of the week’s traded value.
Top Gainers and Losers in the Equities Markets
| Top Gainers | YTD Change | W-o-W |
|---|---|---|
| Standard Group | -28.23% | 25.84% |
| Bamburi | 11.29% | 21.11% |
| HF Group | 25.40% | 13.83% |
| Express | -13.82% | 9.92% |
| Unga | -47.81% | 9.87% |
| Losers | YTD Change | W-o-W |
|---|---|---|
| Olympia | -10.47% | -13.11% |
| EA Cables | 3.53% | -11.11% |
| Uchumi | -19.05% | -5.56% |
| Eveready | 73.61% | -5.30% |
| TP Serena | 11.54% | -4.17% |
Alternative Investments
| Losers | Week (previous) | Week (ending) | % Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Derivatives Turnover (million) | 0.58 | 0.93 | 58.94% |
| Derivatives Contracts | 11.00 | 18.00 | 63.64% |
| I-REIT Turnover (million) | 3.43 | 3.99 | 16.12% |
| I-REIT deals | 38.00 | 26.00 | -31.58% |
Global and Regional Markets
| Global Markets | YTD Change | W-o-W |
|---|---|---|
| S&P 500 | 19.23% | 1.00% |
| Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) | 6.81% | 1.27% |
| FTSE 100 (FTSE) | -0.87% | -0.21% |
| STOXX Europe 600 | 5.94% | 0.91% |
| Shanghai Composite (SSEC) | -2.42% | -0.44% |
| MSCI Emerging Markets Index | 1.85% | 0.39% |
| MSCI World Index | 15.93% | 1.00% |
| Continental Markets | YTD Change | W-o-W |
|---|---|---|
| FTSE ASEA Pan African Index | 3.41% | 2.12% |
| JSE All Share | 1.90% | 2.56% |
| NSE All Share (NGSE) | 38.06% | 0.17% |
| DSEI (Tanzania) | -7.31% | 0.72% |
| ALSIUG (Uganda) | -25.21% | 0.29% |
The US stock market closed the week in the green zone, driven by recent economic data that raised hopes of a slowdown in the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes. Treasury yields, which had fallen to low levels in recent weeks, also rebounded.
The European stock market was volatile during the week, as investors assessed the impact of the European Central Bank’s (ECB) October meeting, which signaled cautious optimism about inflation easing in the Eurozone. However, the disappointing German growth data weighed down market sentiment.
Asian stock markets closed the week in the red zone, pressured by weak economic signals from Japan and the Eurozone. Additionally, the sharp decline in index heavyweight Chow Tai Fook Jewellery further dampened investor sentiment.
On the global commodities markets, Crude Oil WTI and ICE Brent Crude closed the week 0.95% and 0.04% lower at $75.17 and $80.58 respectively. Gold futures prices settled 0.92% higher at $ 2,003.0.
Week’s Highlights
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