The stock market closed the week on an upward trend as investor confidence returned to the market with election petition jitters abating.
The market gained 102 points in the last two days of trading ahead of the long Easter weekend during which the presidential election dispute will be decided.
The market closed Thursday at 4860.8 points on reduced trading. Equity turnover fell from the Sh857.6 million from Wednesday trading to Sh480.5 million, with traded volumes falling from 35.9 million to 20.7 million.
The market gained 30.9 points with Standard Group and National Bank of Kenya as the biggest gainers up 8.7 and 8.5 per cent respectively. National bank this week announced a 53 per cent decline in profit (see article).
Election petition
“We are now not seeing much profit taking or capital protection on the part of investors. A lot of investors are raring to go have settled their anxieties on the election process. And that is why we are seeing the market recovering after the slide of recent weeks,” said Johnson Nderi, a market analyst at Suntra Investment Bank in Nairobi.
Analysts expect the market to remain strong as the election petition come to a close with the verdict due before the next trading session on Tuesday.
Researchers at Dyer and Blair Investment bank predicted a return to the bullish run registered by the bourse last year that will last until at least the second quarter of the year.
The market has in recent weeks been under pressure from a mix of apprehension over the drawn-out presidential poll process and profit taking by investors.
