Foreign investors on the Nairobi Securities Exchange(NSE) made sales of Sh2.86 billion yesterday to lock in profits ahead of US interest rate decision by the Fed. The heightened selling activity saw the NSE equity daily turnover triple to Sh3.23 billion, the highest single-day turnover this year, compared to Sh741 million registered in the previous trading session.
Banking stocks and Safaricom dominated the sell-off, with Equity Bank accounting for the largest net sales at Sh918 million. Safaricom followed with Sh674.8 million, while KCB Group saw Sh535.7 million in sales. Absa Bank Kenya (Sh325.8 million) and Stanbic Holdings (Sh201.6 million) completed the top five.
Analysts attributed the sell off to investors taking profits ahead of US interest rate decision.
“Foreign investors recorded heightened selling activity today, signaling aggressive capital flight likely pointing to significant profit taking by foreign investors, as global markets turn attention to US rate cut decision by the Fed,” AIB-AXYS told investors in their daily market report.
The Nairobi stock market has rallied this year with the NSE all share index gaining 44 per cent this year, ranking it the third best performing stock market in Africa, just behind the Malawian and Zambian stock markets which have recorded returns of 227 per cent and 60 per cent respectively so far this year.
