Wednesday, 3 April 2013

Share prices rise sharply after Supreme Court decision

The NSE 20 Share Index – which tracks the prices of the 20 most traded stocks at the Nairobi bourse – crossed the 5,000 mark for the first time in almost five years, pushed up by demand high demand as investors returned from the Easter break.  File

The NSE 20 Share Index – which tracks the prices of the 20 most traded stocks at the Nairobi bourse – crossed the 5,000 mark for the first time in almost five years, pushed up by demand high demand as investors returned from the Easter break. File 
By David Mugwe, The EastAfrican
Share prices at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) rose sharply on the first day of trading after Kenya’s Supreme Court dismissed two petitions challenging the election of Uhuru Kenyatta as the country’s next president.
The NSE 20 Share Index – which tracks the prices of the 20 most traded stocks at the Nairobi bourse – crossed the 5,000 mark for the first time in more than four years, pushed up by demand high demand as investors returned from the Easter break.
“Following the Supreme Court’s ruling on Saturday in favour of president elect Uhuru Kenyatta, as well as the Easter festivities, the bourse opened the week on a high note with gains being registered across almost all counters traded. The NSE 20 index registered its largest one day gain year-to-date gain climbing 3.5 per cent,” said Standard Investment Bank (SIB) in their end of day report.
Data from the NSE shows that index last crossed the 5,000 mark on July 28, 2008 when it closed at 5046.936 points but at the end of Tuesday’s trade it closed at 5,030.91 points.
SIB said that equity turnover jumped 96 per cent with most of the trades being generated by local investors who accounted for 66 per cent of trades compared to 59.4 per cent in the previous session.
Eight of the ten banking stocks, five of the six listed insurance company shares, Nation Media Group, Standard Media, Uchumi Supermarkets, Bamburi, Crown Paints, East African Cables, Centum Investments, British American Tobacco and Carbacid Investments hit new all year highs during trading hours.
Unga Group, which closed at an average price of Ksh15.35 ($0.18) gained 9.64 per cent, the highest as at the close of trading followed by Car & General which closed at an average price of Ksh25.75 ($0.30) having gained 9.57 per cent, then Kengen which gained 9.25 per cent to close at Ksh15.95 ($0.19).
On Saturday, the Supreme Court of Kenya rejected the applications filed by Raila Odinga —Mr Kenyatta’s main challenger in the March 4 election—and the African Centre for Open Governance (Africog) whose prayers were that the presidential election was not validly conducted and tallied, and therefore should be nullified.
He also contested the declaration by the Independent Elections and Boundaries Commission that Mr Kenyatta had been validly elected as president.
At 51, Mr Kenyatta will become the second youngest president in the East African Community after Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi, who is 49.
President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda is the oldest at 68, followed by Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, 63, and Paul Kagame of Rwanda, 55.

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