Banking shares continue fall as bargain hunters creep in

What you need to know:

  • There were tens of millions of shares in supply even as the demand remained low, underlining the nervousness of investors at the Nairobi Securities Exchange.

Bank share prices continued to fall on Monday, losing the allowed maximum of 10 per cent by 11AM.

Equity, KCB Group and Coop Bank lost 9.32, 9.26 and 9.26 per cent respectively. I&M and NIC shed off 9.77 and 7.29 per cent respectively.

StanChart and Barclays were the only listed banks that gained in price at 4.76 and 2.34 per cent above last Friday’s prices to stand at Sh198 and 8.75 per share.

There were tens of millions of shares in supply even as the demand remained low, underlining the nervousness of investors at the Nairobi Securities Exchange.

The drastic decline of banks’ share prices began last Thursday, falling by the maximum rate of 10 per cent. This continued the following day, last Friday where the share lost another 10 per cent.

The massive fall in bank share prices came after President Uhuru Kenyatta signed a bill controlling interest rates.

The lending rate is now supposed to be a maximum of 14.5 per cent and deposit rates are supposed to be at 7.35 per cent at a minimum, where the Central Bank Rate is the base rate.