Foreign investors’ outflows at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) surged six-fold in the second quarter as election jitters and global shocks continued to have an impact on the Kenyan bourse, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) said on Wednesday.
The net foreign outflow stood at 10.8 billion shillings (91.8 million U.S. dollars) in the second quarter as compared to 14.2 million dollars in the first quarter, said the regulator in a report.
The CMA said equity turnover declined to 221 million dollars in the second quarter compared to 234 million dollars in the previous quarter. Market capitalization, which measures shareholders’ performance, declined to 16.3 billion dollars in the second quarter from 20.4 billion dollars in the previous, as all key indices of the market also declined.
The depressed performance of the market is attributed to jitters among investors over the upcoming election on August 9 where Kenyans will elect a new leader as well as uncertainty revolving around the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to Wycliffe Shamiah, CMA chief executive officer. Enditem