
Investors at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) in January got richer by only Ksh 286, 770,000 – which was just 15 per cent rise in their wealth creation for the period to January 30.
The slight growth in the investors’ wealth at NSE was much better in relations to what the bourse posted in a similar period when the month of January ended in 2024.
According to NSE data, the market capitalization on January 2, 2024, when the bourse opened for trading, it was Ksh1, 436, 919, 000 and on January 31, 2024, was Ksh1,440,144,000.
This comparative analysis reveals that whereas in 2024, the wealth creation was low, the total investors wealth at the bourse was also down. The counters, which contributed to the rise of wealth in January this year, included Kenya Airway, Safaricom, Kenya Power and KenGen.
Ronald D’Souza, head of research, Sterling Capital attributes the growth in wealth creation to myriads of issues such as stabilization of inflation, exchange rate, and slight improvement of the investment environment especially after President Ruto agreed to make reforms amid renewed market confidence, especially from domestic investors, as the market rally continued.
When the bourse opened on January 2, 2025, the Market Cap was Ksh1.969 trillion that as at the end of January 2025 surged to Ksh2.052 trillion. The market was rather bullish with the NSE All Share Index posting gains.
According to the NSE statistics, the total share traded increased by 12,902,300, which was a 141.5 per cent NSE All Share index.
However, the NSE 25 share index lead in the increment for the day by about 11.15-point basis, compared to NSE 20 share index which gained 6.91 share increase while NSE all share index increased slightly by 0.92 per cent basis.
The energy and petroleum sector saw the highest returns in capital gains with a 53.5% median gain year-to-date, propelled by massive gains from Kenya Power and KenGen.