Kenya's NSE closes Q3 at KSh 4.12 trillion; equity turnover falls 72.44% from Q2

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) closed the third quarter with listed companies worth KSh 4,121.65 billion, or about KSh 4.12 trillion (about US$31.7 billion, or 213 billion yuan), while equity turnover fell 72.44% from the second quarter to KSh 72.72 billion (about US$560 million, or 3.76 billion yuan). The figures come from the Capital Markets Authority's (CMA) third-quarter statistical bulletin, which Business Radar reported on 24 October.

Dollar figures use the Central Bank of Kenya's rate of KSh 129.96 to the dollar, posted on 27 October. Yuan figures use the China Foreign Exchange Trade System's central parity of 6.7162 yuan to the dollar on 26 October.

Market capitalisation, the combined value of all listed shares, rose 9.57% in the quarter from KSh 3,761.74 billion at the end of June. The CMA says it is the first time the figure has crossed KSh 4 trillion; Business Daily reported on 26 October that the exchange first reached that valuation on 3 August. Market value stood at KSh 4,217.91 billion at the end of August before slipping in September.

The NSE All Share Index (NASI) gained 9.57% in the quarter to 245.60 points, from 224.15. The NSE 20 Share Index rose 14.95% to 4,316.96 points.

CMA chief executive Wyckliffe Shamiah said in the bulletin that the performance "demonstrates the confidence, resilience, and competitiveness of Kenya's capital markets."

Trading was concentrated in June. Shares worth KSh 263.87 billion changed hands in April to June, and June alone accounted for KSh 233.55 billion. Third-quarter turnover was KSh 16.15 billion in July, KSh 27.66 billion in August and KSh 28.91 billion in September.

Against the third quarter of 2025, when turnover was KSh 46.23 billion, the latest figure was up 57.32%. The number of shares traded fell 75.74% from the second quarter to 1.87 billion.

Foreign investors averaged 32.97% of trading, up from 25.58% in the second quarter. They bought shares worth KSh 21.7 billion and sold KSh 27.4 billion. The CMA puts net foreign portfolio outflows at KSh 5.667 billion for the quarter, against KSh 1.203 billion in April to June, and at KSh 15.65 billion for the first nine months.

Bond turnover rose 34.62% from the second quarter to KSh 837.13 billion, almost all of it Treasury bonds.

The 10 largest listed companies made up 80.51% of market value on average over the quarter. Safaricom alone averaged KSh 1,487.10 billion, followed by Equity Group at KSh 359.13 billion.

Business Daily reported on 27 October, citing CMA data, that shares worth KSh 395 billion traded in the nine months to September, against KSh 145 billion in the whole of 2025, with more than 11.4 billion shares changing hands. Bond turnover stood at KSh 2.54 trillion at the end of September. The newspaper cited a block trade of 6.01 billion Safaricom shares valued at KSh 204.3 billion, which followed the government's sale of a 15% stake in Safaricom to South Africa's Vodacom. Equity turnover was still up more than two-fold without the block trade, it said.

The NSE added 333,043 investors in the nine months to September, against 98,063 in the same period of 2025 and 174,400 in the whole of 2025, Business Daily's 26 October report said. The number reached 2.36 million at the end of September, up from 2.027 million at the start of the year, according to CMA data. Male investors numbered 1.593 million, or 67.5% of retail investors, against 767,472 women.

The CMA bulletin separately records 25,885 new investor accounts opened in the third quarter at the Central Depository and Settlement Corporation (CDSC), Kenya's securities depository.

The 26 October report linked the market's rise to new listings, including the government's sale of a 65% stake in Kenya Pipeline Company through an IPO in March, which offered 11.81 billion shares at KSh 9 each, and to higher dividends that drew local institutional investors. It said those buyers helped the market absorb foreign selling caused by global jitters after the Iran war.

Stockbrokers could have earned up to KSh 14 billion (about US$108 million, or 720 million yuan) in commissions through September, up from an estimated KSh 3.64 billion a year earlier, according to a calculation the newspaper published on 27 October. A brokerage commission is the fee a broker charges for buying or selling shares for a client. The estimate assumes the maximum rate of 1.78% of deal value is charged on both sides of every trade; the rate can fall to as low as 1.12%.

Stockbrokers reported a 73% increase in commissions to KSh 2.76 billion in the first half of the year, and market intermediaries booked income of KSh 9.88 billion in the six months to June, up from KSh 3.7 billion a year earlier.

The NSE's income in the six months to June doubled to KSh 1.2 billion from KSh 511.5 million, and the equity transaction levy netted KSh 770.5 million for the exchange. The NSE said the equity market "recorded its strongest performance in several years" in the first six months, with turnover up 476%.