Listed firms lose value eroding Nairobi bourse investors' wealth

Investors' wealth at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has fallen to 19.6 billion U.S. dollars after a brief surge, pushing down the value of listed firms as share prices drop.

Shares of several firms, including those in the top 20 category, have lost their values to erode market capitalization, the index that measures investors' wealth.

According to data from the NSE, only seven companies of the 65 listed have seen their share prices rise in the last one year.

Regional oil marketer KenolKobil's value has risen the most in the market at 88 percent with its share price growing to 0.15 dollars from 0.08 dollars.

National carrier Kenya Airways is the second highest gainer at 32 percent with the stock valued at 0.06 dollars from 0.04 dollars last year.

Leading telecom Safaricom, the bourse's biggest listed company by market capitalization, is third among the gainers, with its value growing by 20 percent to 0.20 dollars during the period.

The bear-run has hit the NSE, which is listed also at the bourse. The securities market became the first listed company to issue a profit warning for full year 2016 last week.

The company cited challenges witnessed in the global markets with reduced equity trading volumes from foreigners and other market participants.

In its half-year of 2016 earnings, after tax profit fell by 54 percent to 811,888 dollars compared to 1.8 million dollars in a similar period in 2015.

Analysts have noted that it would be difficult for investors to make any money from the bourse this year due to the bear-run.

Investors have lost a huge fortune at the market, thanks to share price decline, which stood at 26 billion dollars at the start of 2015. Endit