NAIROBI – Investors at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) must have had a rough time in 2018, with stocks offering capital gains very hard to come by.
According to Business Daily, East Africa’s leading business newspaper, only seven stocks were in the black in the year-to-date by close of trading on Friday December 21, with 53 having shed value during a year of a bear run that hit the market in spite of the improving Kenyan economy and political calm following the understanding reached between President Uhuru Kenyatta and opposition leader Raila Odinga in March.
Business Daily carried a list of 10 best performers/gainers at the NSE. These are: Express Ltd, KenolKobil Ltd, Unga Group Ltd, and Barclays Bank Ltd. Others are Total Kenya Ltd, Kapchorua Tea Kenya Plc, Stanbic Holdings Plc, Crown Berger Ltd, Kurwitu Ventures Ltd, and Limuru Tea Company Ltd.
The top 10 worst performing stocks, all of which have shed at least half of their value at the market this year, are representative of companies that have fallen upon hard times on their books.
The losers are: Deacons (East Africa) Plc AIMS, K. Orchards AIMS, and Uchumi. Others are Kenya Power, Nairobi Business Ventures GEMS, Eveready EA, ARM Cement ltd, EA Cables, KQ, and Home Africa GEMS.
