Equities Market
Equity prices edged down by 1.1% as measured by the Nairobi All Share Index (NASI). NSE 20 Index led the decline, shedding 0.9%, followed by the NSE 10, which fell by 0.5%. However, NSE 25 counter and the banking sector index rose marginally by 0.1% and 0.5% respectively, week on week.
Market turnover expanded by 29.3%, increasing from KES 3218.65Mn to KES 4172.99Mn, supported by a 17.6% rise in the shares traded from 107.52Mn to 126.46Mn shares.
Foreign activity grew to 32.5% on average, up from 20.3% in the prior week with a net foreign inflow of KES346.63Mn from a net foreign outflow of KES 408.75Mn the week before. Notable net foreign inflows were recorded in Equity Group and Safaricom while KCB Group and Stanbic experienced significant net foreign outflows.
Market focus was in the banking, telecommunication and Energy sectors, which together accounted for 95.9% of total market turnover and 85.1% of total shares traded.
Equity Group was the top mover of the week with a turnover of KES 1,408.15Mn largely attributed by a spike in its volume traded from 4.97Mn shares last week to 23.43Mn shares whose price shed 0.8% to KES 60.50 per share.
Safaricom took the second position with a turnover of KES 1165.31Mn after 41.35Mn shares exchanged hands, which was a slight increment from 35.05Mn shares traded last week. The giant telco’s price shrunk 3.3% from KES 28.90 to KES 27.95 per share on low foreign attention.
KCB Group came third with a turnover of KES929.65Mn which was primarily due to an increase in its volume traded by more than five times from 3.14Mn shares last week to 16.57Mn shares, coupled with a 6.2% increase in its counter price from KES 56.25 to KES 59.75 per share.
Jubilee Holdings was the top gainer of the week with a 7.0% improvement in its price from KES 305.35 to KES 326.75 followed closely by Unga Group at 6.3% to KES 23.55 and KCB Group with 6.2% gain to KES 59.75 per share.
[Graph in PDF]
Bonds Market
Activity in the secondary bonds market shrank during the week, with the value traded declining by 9.4% from KES 60.53Bn to KES 54.84Bn, despite entry of the primary papers into the secondary trading early in the week. This is after the settlement of the December’s papers (SDB1/2011/30 & FXD1/2021/25) that happened on Monday, 8th December 2025.
The FXD1/2021/25yr bond, a recent December paper, was the most actively traded paper, recording a turnover of KES 9.16Bn, followed by the FXD1/2022/25yr re-opened in November, which posted KES 3.90Bn in turnover.
The Central Bank of Kenya re-opened two papers for January 2026 primary auction, FXD1/2019/020 (13.2-years, 12.873% coupon) and FXD1/2022/025 (21.8-years, 14.188% coupon), targeting KES 60Bn for budgetary support. At the same time, they announced a Switch of KES 20.00Bn from FXD1/2016/010 (0.6-years, 15.0390% coupon) to FXD1/2022/015 (11.3-years, 13.9420% coupon) in a move that is seen to re-structure its debts.
[Graph in PDF]
Yield Curve
The yield curve maintained mixed movements largely occasioned by the recent primary re-openings that entered secondary trading.
The short-end maintained a downward shift between 4-year and the 7-year papers impacted by the FXD1/2012/020 auctioned in November. This was as the section witnessed a wider shift of between 43.5bps and 103.0bps. The 7-year re-opened in November recorded a 76.0bps week on week drop from 12.3437% to 11.5840%.
Long-term papers between 12-years and 16-years shifted downwards immediately after the FXD1/2021/025 (15.2-years) entered the secondary market to cash in capital gains. FXD1/2021/025’s yield to maturity (YTM) dropped 17.7bps w-w from 13.6760% to 13.4988%.
[Graph in PDF]
Interbank
During the week, the Central Bank Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) lowered the bench mark lending rate by 25.0bps from 9.25% to 9.00%, citing the need to lower the cost of credit to support economic growth. This was further supported by low inflation levels and a stable exchange rate.
The above changes in the monetary policy saw the week’s interbank rate drop 23.2bps w-w from 9.25% on 5th December to 9.02% on 11th December 2025 to realign with new Central Bank Rate. Average interbank fell 10.3bps slowed down by trades that happened before the rate cut where interbank was trading at 9.25% on Monday and Tuesday, immediately before the rate decision announcement.
Liquidity demand improved 63.7% from KES 17.70Bn to KES 28.97Bn to push the week’s average demand 46.4% up from KES 10.74Bn to KES 15.73Bn partly on impact from the pay as you earn (PAYE) tax payment that happened on 9th December 2025.
[Graph in PDF]
Treasury Bills
The weekly Treasury bills auction remained oversubscribed at 135.7%, attracting KES 32.58Bn in bids against the KES 24.0Bn, with KES 31.66Bn accepted.
Investor demand was heavily skewed toward the 364-day paper, which recorded an oversubscription of 228.28%, receiving KES 22.83Bn in bids, of which KES 21.92Bn was taken up. The 91-day paper also saw robust demand, attracting KES 7.51Bn in bids (187.7% oversubscription), with KES 7.50Bn accepted.
In contrast, the 182-day paper was undersubscribed, highlighting a shift by investors toward shorter- and longer-term maturity papers.
[Graph in PDF]
Currency
The Kenyan shilling remained relatively stable week-on-week at KES 129.16 per US dollar. While the shilling showed little improvement against the US dollar, while weakening by 0.1% against the euro and strengthen against the Pound and the Japanese yen by 0.2% and 0.9% respectively.
Year-to-date basis, the shilling has remained relatively stable against the US dollar supported by the rising foreign exchange reserves partially offset by elevated external debt service obligations.
Foreign exchange reserves rose to USD 12.07Bn, equivalent to 5.24 months of import cover, remaining comfortably above the Central Bank of Kenya’s minimum requirement of 4.0 months. The buildup in reserves continues to be supported by resilient diaspora remittances, and strong agricultural export performance.
