BY Ezinne Chima
Kenyan stocks rallied to a record high in the longest winning streak in almost 10 months, as investors who pulled money from Nigeria bought into East Africa’s biggest economy, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.
The FTSE NSE Kenya 25 Index rose for an eighth day in Nairobi, the capital. Kenya, an oil importer, is benefiting from lower energy costs
that have curbed inflation and attracted foreign investors who sold shares in Nigeria, Africa’s biggest crude producer.
Kenya is “getting some foreign inflows because other markets such as Nigeria are not stable,” Eric Musau, an analyst at Nairobi-based
Standard Investment Bank Ltd., said by phone Wednesday.
“Their currency has been under a lot of pressure.”
With an economy projected to accelerate in 2015 at the fastest pace in four years, Kenya’s shares are the best performers after Namibia this
year among 14 sub-Saharan African gauges tracked by Bloomberg.
Growth is forecast at 6.2 percent from 5.3 percent in 2014, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Nigerian stocks are the world’s worst performers this year and the naira currency has weakened 8.1 percent.
Kenya’s stock index climbed 0.6 percent to 231 by the close with 14 shares rising, seven falling and four unchanged. The 14-day relative
strength index rose to 77.6, the highest since September 23, 2014, and above the level that may indicate to some traders the gauge is overbought for a fifth day.
Gains were led by Kenya Power & Lighting Ltd., which advanced 5.6 percent to 17.90 shillings after saying on Tuesday that
first-half net income rose 39 percent.
“Demand has started building up as the earnings season comes in,” Musau said.
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