The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has issued a response to an article by the global financial news outlet Bloomberg published on October 2nd.

Bloomberg reported that Securities Exchange had experienced a decline in its All Share Index, making it the worst-performing stock exchange.

According Bloomberg, the NSE was experiencing a sharp decline attributed to factors such as limited investor interest and adverse economic conditions.

“The NSE Share Index posted the 4th consecutive quarter of decline in September, the longest stretch since 2017,” the article read in part.

The securities exchange responded by defending its stock market and asserting that Bloomberg’s ranking was misleading. They argued that the global news outlet did not offer a holistic view of Kenya’s public capital markets.

They pointed out that Bloomberg’s assessment did not take into consideration important factors such as float adjustments, dividend yields, and comparisons with peer group markets. Such factors are heavily weighed by investors when making decisions in the market.

To support their position, they cited an article by Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) Russell, which had included the Kenyan exchange in its index and had positively acknowledged Kenya’s market structure and performance.

“In addition, Morgan Stanley Capital International in its August 2023 review of Kenya, noted that NSE had a dividend yield of 8.63 per cent compared to 4.28 cent for the peer group markets,” they stated.

Kenya’s stock market now one of worst performing in world

Furthermore, the exchange argued that Kenya’s stock market had significant growth in the first half of the year, a 9 per cent increase, compared to the same period last year.

“Kenya’s income securities market has made significant growth. The monthly value of bonds traded by NSE reached a 2-year-high by September 2023.”

The NSE claimed that it provides investors with access to five public market platforms and a private market solution.