Equities Market
Equity prices closed the week on a high note, with the Nairobi All Share Index (NASI) expanding by 3.9%. The upturn was primarily driven by the NSE 10 counters, which rose by 5.6%. NSE 20 and NSE 25 counters jumped by 4.6% and 5.3%, respectively while the banking sector posted gains of 3.7% week-on-week.
Market activity improved during the week, with turnover rising by 86.6% to KES 7.77Bn, up from KES 4.16Bn the previous week. This was supported by a 24.1% increase in traded volumes, as total shares exchanged climbed from 126.46 Mn to 156.91Mn. We attribute the surge in activity to rebalancing of books by institutional investors as the financial year closes.
Foreign investor participation doubled up from 32.5% to 62.9% in the prior week. The market recorded a net foreign inflow of KES 119.32Mn, from KES 346.63Mn registered the week before. Notable foreign inflows were observed in Safaricom, EABL and Equity Group, while Stanbic experienced net foreign outflow pressure.
Investor activity was largely concentrated in the banking, telecommunication and manufacturing sectors, which collectively accounted for 97.9% of total market turnover and 87.9% of total shares traded.
Safaricom emerged as the week’s top mover, posting a turnover of KES 2421.64Mn, largely driven by a sharp rise in foreign activity from 47.7% to 74.7% on average informed by end of year books adjustments by institutional investors This saw Safaricom’s volumes double up from 41.35Mn to 86.10Mnshares. The telco’s price improved 0.9% from KES 27.95 last week to KES 28.20 per share.
Equity Group ranked second with a turnover of KES 2173.35Mn, supported by 35.16Mn shares traded, up from 23.43Mn shares in the prior week. Its share price has gained a 3.31% from KES 60.50 to KES 62.50 per share.
KCB Group followed in third place, recording a turnover of KES 1973.95Mn, reflecting a double increment in volumes to 32.23Mn shares alongside a 4.18% price appreciation to KES 62.25 per share from KES 59.75.
EABL emerged top gainer with 24.1% gain from KES 232.75 to close the week at KES 288.75 on impact from the 65% EABL shares acquisition by Asahi Group Holdings from Diageo. Nairobi Securities followed with a 20.5% gain from KES 16.85 to KES 20.30 while Eaagards rose by 18.1% to KES 20.55 from KES 17.40 per share last week.
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Bonds Market
End of year transactions and portfolio balancing saw the week’s value traded up 26.3% to KES 69.26Bn from KES 54.84Bn while number of deals rose by 4.14% from 918 to 956.
The FXD1/2021/20yr Bond, issued in October, was the most traded paper during the week, registering a turnover of KES 11.55Bn, followed by the FXD1/2022/25yr bond, which recorded KES 8.60Bn turnover.
In the coming week we expect a slowdown in activity as the Christmas celebrations gain momentum.
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Yield Curve
The yield curve shifted upwards in the second last week of the year on what appears to be impact from the ongoing festive season where major market makers are expected to stay out of the market.
The short-end of between 4- and 8-years shifted upwards in an opposite direction to the previous’ downward movement in what appears to be end of year transactions to balance books by some institutional investors. Upward shifts also occurred on the long-end of between 15- and 20-year papers. Activities in the section are largely informed by the recent re-openings of similar papers.
The middle curve remained relatively stable on low activities in the section.
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Interbank
Improved liquidity saw the Interbank rate drop marginally in the third week of December at 4.1bps from 9.02% to 8.98%. Average interbank however, dropped faster at 15.2bps from 9.14% to 8.99% on a full trading week after the rate cut that happened on 9th December 2025, the week before.
Market rise in liquidity saw demand for the same dipped 63.0% w-w from to KES 28.97Bn KES 10.72Bn to pull down the average weekly demand 28.3% down from KES 15.73Bn KES 11.28Bn.
Bank excess reserves jumped 82.3% up from KES 13.00Bn to KES 23.70Bn to benefit from the KES 27.99Bn coupon payouts and KES 26.27Bn T-Bill maturities that happened on Monday, 15th December 2025 and a general rise in market liquidity. These offset liquidity demand from tax payments for value added tax (VAT), exercise duty, with-holding tax and rental taxes that happened at the close of the week.
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Treasury Bills
The weekly Treasury bills auction was undersubscribed at 67.3%, attracting KES 16.15Bn in bids against the KES 24.0Bn, with KES 16.14Bn accepted.
Investor appetite was heavily concentrated in the 364-day paper, which recorded an oversubscription of 111.9%, with bids amounting to KES 11.19Bn, of which KES 11.18Bn was taken up.
In contrast, the 91-day and 182-day papers were undersubscribed by 89.2% and 13.9% respectively, representing investor’s preference for long term maturity papers which give a higher return.
The auction outcome was supported by KES 26.27Bn in Treasury bill maturities settled on 15th December 2025. Additionally, a further KES11.0Bn is scheduled to mature in the coming week, on the 22nd of December 2025.
[Graph in PDF]
Currency
The Kenyan shilling strengthened by 0.2% during the week, closing at KES 128.95 per US dollar. Additionally, the currency appreciated marginally against the British Pound and Japanese yen by 0.1% and 0.2% respectively while weakening against the Euro by 0.1%.
Year-to-date, the shilling gained 0.3% against the US dollar, supported by improving foreign reserves which remain strained by external debt obligations.
Foreign exchange reserves increased to USD 12.13Bn, equivalent to 5.30 months of import cover, remaining comfortably above the Central Bank of Kenya’s statutory minimum requirement of 4.0 months. The accumulation of reserves continues to be underpinned by resilient diaspora remittances and robust agricultural export earnings.
Diaspora remittances rose to USD 388.3Mn in November 2025, marking a slight decline from October. On a year-on-year basis, inflows dropped by 8.3%, compared to USD 423.2Mn recorded in November 2024. Kenya’s 12-month cumulative remittance inflows till November 2025 rose by 3.6% to KES 5.05Mn from KES 4.87Mn in the same period in 2024.
