[Graph in pdf]
Equities Market
Stocks were marginally up in the second week of September 2025, attracting 0.2% gain on average, even as the market activity remained elevated supported by local activities. NSE 20, NSE 25 and NSE 10 stocks saw their prices rise faster at 1.7%. 1.6% and 1.0%, respectively. The manufacturing, the insurance and the investment sectors recorded major upticks, gaining 6.7%, 5.0% and 2.7% on average respectively.
Volumes traded dropped 25.5% from 278.09Mn to 207.32Mn shares to pull down the week’s value 43.9% down from KES 7,198.92Mn to KES 4,035.82Mn.
Foreign activity further shrunk by over half from 38.3% to 18.2% with a 55.3% dip in net foreign outflows from KES 1,175.19Mn to KES 525.26Mn. Heavy foreign outflows remained on the telecommunications.
Market focus remained on the Banking sector and the telecommunication sector which moved KES 2,270.97Mn and KES 879.63Mn accounting for 56.3% and 21.8% of the market value, respectively. The two sectors moved the most shares of 81.64Mn and 46.27Mn shares, representing 39.4% and 22.3% of the entire market shares traded for the Banking and the telco sector, respectively. The energy sector, insurance sector and the manufacturing sectors took third, fourth and fifth positions, accounting for 8.2%, 6.0% and 4.7% of the market value in that order.
Safaricom emerged the week’s top mover with KES 879.63Mn after changing hands 30.17Mn shares whose price slowed down 1.7% from KES 29.95 to KES 29.45 per share. The counter’s foreign activity slowed down from 63.1% to 52.0% as the net foreign outflows edged down from KES 934.21MN to KES 467.92Mn.
KCB Group took second mover position with KES 705.17MN after changing hands 13.44Mn shares. The Group’s price attracted 3.9% up from KES 51.00 to KES 53.00 per share despite closing its books fore the KES 4.00 interim dividend on 3rd September for a payment on 11th November. The price surge was largely informed by its improved valuation which hit KES 60.06 per share in August 2025.
Attention also turned to HF Group which emerged third on the top movers list after transacting KES 425.10Mn from 38.79Mn share. This was as HF Group’s price stabilized at KES 11.00 supported by improved financials which is expected to see the Group’s return on investment flourish.
Co-op Bank and Equity Group took 4th and 5th top mover counters with KES 400.09Mn and KES 281.81Mn turnovers respectively.
During the week, Standard Chartered Bank Kenya saw its price shed off 6.3% to emerged 3rd on the top losers’ list from KES 325.00 to KES 304.50 per share immediately after its KES 8.00 per share interim dividend book closure that happened on Thursday, 11th September for a payment on 7th October 2025.
[Graph in pdf]
Bonds Market
The Secondary bonds value traded declined 18.9% from KES 48.54Bn to KES 39.36Bn held down by reduced bond activity as the market focus shifts to the primary auction. The number of deals traded dropped from 1,023 to 951 deals.
The re-opened IFB1/2022/19 paper, re-opened in August 2025, retained the top mover position after trading 9.58Bn while its yield to maturity (YTM) edged up from 13.2274% to 13.2672%.This was as some investors from its primary auction cashed as its yield remained below the primary’s accepted YTM of 13.991%.
In the coming week, we expect a decline in the secondary market activity as the market focus shifts to the primary auction for FXD1/2018/020(12.5-yrs) of 13.20% coupon and FXD1/2022/025(22.2-Yrs) of 14.188% coupon is due next week on Wednesday, 17th September 2025. Watch out for our pre-auction advisory note.
[Graph in pdf]
Yield Curve
The yield curve relatively remained stable in the week with an exception of the long-end which shifted down on impact from the re-opened FXD1/2018/25.
The short-end and the middle curve remained relatively stable with an upward bias informed by the primary paper auctions.
In the third week of September, we expect the curve around re-opened papers FXD1/2018/020(12.5-yrs) coupon and FXD1/2022/025(22.2-Yrs) to shift up as investors demand better discounts to compensate for the other better yielding papers in the market.
[Graph in pdf]
Interbank
Interbank rate remained relatively stable at 9.46% week on week even as the average interbank dropped 6.3bps from an average of 9.52% to 9.46%.
Liquidity demand however accelerated up 292.6% w-w from KES 7.80Bn to KES 15.01Bn reflecting a search of funds towards the upcoming primary bond auction.
Bank excess reserves however, declined 15.2% from KES 24.30Bn to KES 20.60Bn on what appears to be the impact of the above improved liquidity demand.
[Graph in pdf]
Treasury Bills
The week’s Treasury bill auction saw an oversubscription of 161.5% or KES 38.77BN while the government accepting 74.6% or KES 28.91Bn to represent a 120.5% performance against a weekly target of KES 24.00Bn.
The performance was supported rollover redemptions of KES 26.25Bn due on Monday, 15th September 2025. Returns on investment across the three papers declined marginally at 3.1bps, 1.4bps and 1.5bps to 9.5483%, 8.0194% and to 7.9716% for the 364-, 182- and 91-day papers, respectively.
In the coming week’s auction we expect an oversubscription to persist supported by re-investments from the upcoming maturities of KES 21.18Bn and investments from the rejected amounts of KES 9.85Bn from this auction.
[Graph in pdf]
Currency
The shilling further stabilized at KES 129.24 per US dollar both on average and on week on week comparisons.
The shilling remain cushioned by sufficient forex reserves of USD 11.70Bn sufficient for 4.9-months of import cover, reflecting a 2.5% growth w-w compared to the reserves of USD 10.90Bn of the week before.
This is further supported by diaspora remittances which hit USD 427.20Mn for the month of August 2024, a 4.2% growth from that of USD 410.09Mn receipted in July 2025. Cumulative forex remittances inflows for the 12-months ending August 2025 were up 9.4% to USD 5.08Bn.
