Financial counters are tipped to dominate activities at the Nairobi Securities Exchange as the year unfolds, with trading having resumed on January 2 with continued activities expected today after the weekend.
Market capitalisation closed at Sh2.95 trillion on Friday, reflecting a 1.83 per cent increase.
The NSE recorded mixed results at the end of the year trading after a bullish 2025.
Data from the weekly bulletin by the Central Bank of Kenya shows that whereas all indices recorded an increase, equity turnover and shares traded dropped by over 70 per cent.
The NASI, NSE 25 and NSE 20 share price indices increased by 1.41 per cent 1.62 per cent and 1.27 per cent, respectively, during the week ending December 31, 2025.
Last Friday, NSE 20 increased by 1.33 per cent to 3,140.93 points, NSE 25 by 2.07 per cent to 5,119.32, NASI All-Share also dropped by 1.83 per cent to 187.35 while N10 rose by 2.29 per cent to 1,975.50.
Equity turnover and total shares traded decreased by 83.6 per cent and 70.9 per cent, respectively, in the last week of 2025, before picking this year.
Even so, investors' paper wealth rose market capitalisation by 1.41 per cent to close the year at Sh2.94 trillion compared to Sh2.90 trillion the previous week.
Players in the financial and telecommunications market continued to dominate activities at the Nairobi bourse, with Home Afrika leading top five gainers.
It traded at Sh1.36 per share recording a 1.5 per cent gain over its previous closing price of Sh1.34. Home Afrika began the year with a share price of Sh1.34 and has since gained 1.49 per cent on that price valuation, ranking it eighth on the NSE in terms of year-to-date performance.
Shareholders can be optimistic about HAFR knowing the stock has accrued 25 per cent over the past four-week period alone—best on NSE.
Others are Absa Bank Kenya, Safaricom, and Equity Bank, who gained between a percentage and half percentage points respectively.
During the first day of trading this year, the total market turnover of the top five companies was Sh780.73 million, accounting for 72.90 per cent of the total turnover.
The top five companies by market turnover were Safaricom, Jubilee Holdings, Equity Bank, Co- op Bank and NCBA Bank.
For the week ended January 2, the total market turnover stood at Sh1,070.96 million. Foreign investor turnover accounted for Sh176.09 million representing 16.44 per cent of the total market activity. Meanwhile, local investor turnover was higher at Sh1,070.96 million or Sh1.07 trillion, making up 83.56 per cent of the total transactions.
Market analysts have projected financial counters to continue dominating activities at the Nairobi bourse, especially the banking sector, as benefits of sound monetary policies trickle down.
The banking regulator has slashed the base lending rate eight times in a row to the current flat rate of nine percent. This is expected to spur activities in the sector.
Bond turnover in the domestic secondary market decreased by 53.9 percent during the last week of 2025 to close the year at Sh18.7 billion compared to Sh40.6 billion reported the week before.
Turnover for the first week of the tear recorded a 14.43 per cent decrease to close the week at Sh23.2 billion.
Trading in Kenyan government bonds at the NSE accelerated sharply in 2025, lifting total bond turnover by nearly 74 per cent year on year to Sh2.7 trillion, as commercial banks and insurers stepped up balance-sheet trading following policy rate adjustments.
In the money markets, the Treasury bill auction of December 31 received bids worth Sh25.9 billion against an advertised amount of Sh24 billion, representing a performance of 108 per cent.
Interest rate on the 91-day and 182-day Treasury bills remained stable at an average of 7.7 percent while the interest rate on the 364-day Treasury bill declined marginally to 8.1 per cent.
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