Local individual bond traders at NSE surge by close to 300%

Local individual bond accounts rose fourfold in the first three months of the year, with data showing retail participation grew sharply as the secondary bond market posted its highest-ever turnover figures.

The individual bond accounts rose to 3,010 at the end of the first quarter of 2026, up from 757 in a similar period the previous year. That was well above the 550-to-824 range within which the category had been effectively trapped since the fist quarter of 2020.

The 297.6 per cent year-on-year increase marks the sharpest single-year move in retail bond participation on record.

The retail broadening has coincided with a surge in secondary bond market activity. The 2025 bond turnover at the Nairobi Securities Exchange closed at Sh2.71 trillion, nearly double the Sh1.34 trillion recorded in 2024 and more than four times the Sh589.63 billion posted in 2023.

The broader bond investor base expanded to 3,640 accounts in the first quarter of 2026 from 1,378 a year earlier, a 164.2 per cent rise.

The total stands above the previous multi-year high of 2,702 recorded during the first quarter of 2020, itself a level the market had failed to recover since a steep contraction in 2021 reduced the bond account base by half.

Growth across the first quarter of 2026 cuts across multiple investor categories.

Foreign individual investor bond accounts also rose to 39 from 23, a 69.6 per cent increase.

East African individual bond accounts climbed to seven from one, recovering to the level experienced in the first quarter of 2020.

Local corporate bond accounts, representing the institutional core of the market, edged down to 577 from 594, a 2.9 per cent decline, indicating the overall expansion is being driven entirely by retail and non-institutional segments.

The bond turnover acceleration has extended into 2026, with February posting a record Sh417.03 billion in monthly turnover, the highest single-month figures on record, followed by Sh366.2 billion in March.

Cumulative Q1, 2026 bond turnover reached Sh1.08 trillion, already equivalent to 39.8per cent of the full-year 2025 total.

Investors shun government’s short-term papers for the third week in a row despite an increase in yields.

Treasury bill auction of April 30 received bids worth Sh18.5 billion against an advertised amount of Sh24 billion, representing a performance of 77 per cent.

Interest rate on the 91-day, 182-day, and 364-day Treasury bills increased marginally.

At the Nairobi Securities Exchange, the NASI, NSE 25 and NSE 20 share price indices decreased by 0.51 per cent, 1.04 per cent and 1.22 per cent, respectively, during the week ending April 30.

Market capitalisation, total shares traded, and equity turnover also decreased by 0.51 per cent, 71.98 per cent, and 34.75 per cent, respectively.