Banks’ stocks rise ahead of report releases

KCB Group share touched a one-year high of Sh35.50 while Barclays Bank went up by 10 cents to Sh16.45 ahead of release of the lenders’ results this week.

This indicates high investor expectations of a strong performance of the sector, which is projected to cross the Sh100 billion pre-tax profit mark this year.

The investor anticipation has lifted most of the listed bank stocks, rising to all-time high.

“We have revised our forecasts for 2013 largely on the back of higher credit growth and higher-than-expected book quality,” said the local subsidiary of Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital in its latest report on Kenya’s banking industry.

The investment firm forecasts that KCB will report a Sh12.8 billion net profit, while Equity Bank is expected to hit Sh11.8 billion, Co-operative Bank Sh7.6 billion.

Looking back at 2007 and 2008, Rencap holds that the polls are not likely to have a major impact on the country’s banking sector.