Foreign Exchange Reserves
The usable foreign exchange reserves stood at USD 7,148 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 130.74, KES 165.71 and KES 142.11 respectively. The observed appreciation against the Dollar is attributed to the increased foreign inflows.
Currency | YTD Change | W-o-W Change |
---|---|---|
Dollar | -16.72% | -0.80% |
Sterling Pound | -17.08% | -0.50% |
Euro | -18.17% | -0.40% |
Liquidity
Liquidity in the money markets slightly tightened, with the average inter-bank rate increasing from 13.67% to 13.76%, as tax remittances more than offset government payments. Open market operations remained active.
Liquidity | Week (previous) | Week (ending) |
---|---|---|
Interbank rate | 13.67% | 13.76% |
Interbank volume (billion) | 23.88 | 24.47 |
Commercial banks’ excess reserves (billion) | 18.30 | 17.50 |
Fixed Income
T-Bills
T-Bills were over-subscribed during the week, with the overall subscription rate increasing to 118.65%, up from 65.99% recorded in the previous week. The 91-day T-Bill received the highest subscription rate at 217.29% while the 182-day T-Bill and 364-day T-Bill had subscription rates of 58.70% and 139.14% respectively. The acceptance rate increased by 7.80% to close the week at 91.99%.
T-Bonds
In the secondary bond market, there was a lower demand for the week’s bond offers. Bond turnover decreased by 55.80%, from KES 22.74 billion in the previous week to KES 10.05 billion. Total bond deals decreased by 28.41% from 711 in the previous week to 509.
In the primary bond market, CBK released auction results for the re-opened 5-year FXD1/2023/005 and the 10-year FXD1/2024/010 which sought to raise KES 25.0 billion through a tap sale. The issues received bids worth KES 47.79 billion, representing a subscription rate of 191.15%. Of these, KES 45.85 billion worth of bids were accepted at a weighted average rate of 18.41% and 16.52% respectively.
Eurobonds
In the international market, yields on Kenya’s Eurobonds decreased by an average of 0.03% compared to the previous week, increased by 0.04% month-to-date and decreased by 0.99% year-to-date. The yields on the 10-year Eurobonds for Angola 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 |
---|---|---|---|
2018 10-Year Issue | -1.35% | -0.04% | -0.04% |
2018 30-Year Issue | -0.89% | 0.07% | -0.41% |
2019 7-Year Issue | -1.85 | 0.01% | 0.01% |
2019 12-Year Issue | -0.68% | 0.05% | 0.05% |
2021 13-Year Issue | -0.24% | 0.07% | 0.11% |
2024 6-Year Issue | -0.91% | 0.05% | 0.08% |
Equities
NASI, NSE 25 and NSE 10 settled 0.24%, 0.84% and 1.17% higher while NSE 20 settled 0.25% lower compared to the previous week, bringing the year-to-date performance to 23.26%, 25.69%, 28.28% and 15.86% respectively. Market capitalization also gained 0.24% from the previous week to close at KES 1.77 trillion, recording a year-to-date increase of 23.26%. The performance was driven by gains recorded by large-cap stocks such as EABL, NCBA and Standard Chartered of 6.32%, 3.20% and 1.77% respectively. This was however weighed down by losses recorded by Safaricom, Co-operative and Stanbic of 1.13%, 0.33% and 0.20% respectively.
The Banking sector had shares worth KES 1.6B transacted which accounted for 68.39% of the week’s traded value, the Manufacturing and Allied sector had shares worth KES 41.4M transacted which represented 1.73% and Safaricom, with shares worth KES 657M transacted represented 27.52% of the week’s traded value.
Top Gainers and Losers in the Equities Markets
Top Gainers | YTD Change | W-o-W |
---|---|---|
Transcentuary | 11.54% | 18.37% |
Total | 11.11% | 10.19% |
Home Africa | -15.38% | 10.00% |
Olympia | 13.15% | 8.82% |
Sanlam | 16.33% | 8.05% |
Losers | YTD Change | W-o-W |
---|---|---|
BOC Kenya | -7.32% | -8.98% |
Eveready | 4.24% | -8.89% |
Kenya Power | 21.43% | -8.60% |
Express | -13.51% | -8.31% |
Bamburi | 19.86% | -8.09% |
Alternative Investments
Losers | Week (previous) | Week (ending) | % Change |
---|---|---|---|
Derivatives Turnover (million) | 5.59 | 0.59 | -89.52% |
Derivatives Contracts | 17.00 | 6.00 | -64.71% |
I-REIT Turnover (million) | 500 | 0.00 | -100.00% |
I-REIT deals | 1 | 00.00 | -100.00% |
Global and Regional Markets
Global Markets | YTD Change | W-o-W |
---|---|---|
S&P 500 | 9.73% | -0.95% |
Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) | 3.15% | -2.27% |
FTSE 100 (FTSE) | 2.46% | -0.52% |
STOXX Europe 600 | 5.86% | -1.19% |
Shanghai Composite (SSEC) | 3.61% | 0.92% |
MSCI Emerging Markets Index | 2.05% | 0.24% |
MSCI World Index | 7.36% | -1.03% |
Continental Markets | YTD Change | W-o-W |
---|---|---|
FTSE ASEA Pan African Index | -4.09% | -0.39% |
JSE All Share | -0.93% | 0.51% |
NSE All Share (NGSE) | 36.12% | -1.08% |
DSEI (Tanzania) | 1.32% | -0.16% |
ALSIUG (Uganda) | 21.63% | -1.14% |
US stock markets closed the week in the red zone, as investors digested mixed signals from the latest labour data. While the report showed the strongest job growth in ten months and continued wage gains, the unemployment rate also dipped unexpectedly. This robust data, indicating a tight labour market, aligns with the Fed’s view and weighed down hopes for an immediate interest rate cut.
The European market closed the week on a downward trajectory, weighed down by investors’ concerns over escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East following an alleged Israeli strike on Iran’s embassy. Additionally, investors assessed the hawkish comments from some Federal Reserve officials and the higher-than-expected U.S. job data.
Asian stocks closed the week in the green zone, buoyed by rebounding retail sales in Hong Kong and signs of an upswing in private sector activity. Additionally, markets reacted favourably to US Treasury Secretary Yellen’s visit to China, seen as a step towards improving relations between the two economic countries.
Week’s Highlights
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