Market Commentary:
- The All Share Index gained by 1.0% to close the day at 144.74. We attribute this to gains in large cap counters: Safaricom (+1.6% to KES 30.95), EABL (+0.9% to KES 170.00), Equity (+0.3% to KES 34.95) and KCB (+1.3% to KES 35.95). The NSE 20 index gained marginally by 0.1% to close at 2,025.55 as majority of the counters recorded price gains.
- As anticipated, Britam declined by 9.7% to KES 9.62 which we attribute to profit taking activity. Kenya Power declined by 8.0% to KES 2.18 following its profit warning announcement for FY2020 results. Foreign investors were net buyers with foreign purchases at 66.8% of the day’s purchases against foreign sales at 58.9% of sales
News Highlights:
Kenya Airways Set to Resume Passenger Flights
Kenya Airways is set to offer passenger flights once the government allows local and international flights.
The airline was forced to halt passenger flights in March owing to travel restrictions put in place to curb the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to management, these flights are expected to resume later in the third quarter of the year.
Business is expected to begin on a low capacity as travel restrictions are likely to lift slowly and it may take some time to regain passenger confidence.
Commentary
This will definitely be a positive development which may offer some reprieve to the airline in a year that has seen significant loss of business and revenue.
Recommendations:
Long Term Buy- KCB, Equity, Absa, Stanbic, NCBA
Hold- Safaricom
Sell- Stanchart, Bamburi, H