KCB flat profits makes it a darling amidst crumbling lenders

After Cooperative Bank results came in ten percent lower confirming the dismal performance by lenders, focus shifted to Kenya Commercial Bank which remained resilient.

KCB Group touched a 12-month high of Sh52.00 for the third consecutive session before easing back to close the day at Sh51.00 with shares worth Sh198 million transacted.

Equity Group Holdings which is yet to release its results went down fifty cents to Sh49.75 moved 1.7 million shares valued at Sh89.6 million.

Co-op bank registered Sh11.4 billion in net profits blaming it on the stretched electioneering period and the rate cap. The lender’s loan book and deposits contracted 2.1 percent quarter on quarter and 0.6 percent respectively.

The Banking sector commanded half of the NSE 20 share trading at 51 percent with shares worth Sh425 million transacted.

KenolKobil retracted a day after netting a flat growth of Sh2.46 billion in profit due to setting aside more than Sh1.3 billion for one-off payments, including a hefty payout to its former chief executive.

After touching a 12-month high of Sh17.25 KenolKobil retreated to close at Sh16.95 moving 1 million shares valued at Sh17 million. The other energy counter, KenGen saw its shares rise by 1.69 percent to Sh9.00.

Kenya-Re which fired its boss, Mr. Jadiah Mwarania who was replaced by Michael Mbeshi lost 2.71 percent on Thursday’s trading to close at Sh17.95.

The single largest mover was Safaricom counter which exchanged 9.9M shares valued at Sh296 million at between Sh29.50 and Sh30.00; this represented 35.60 percent of the day’s traded value.

The NSE 20 share Index was up 6.35 points to stand at 3767.23.

All Share Index (NASI) shed 0.69 points to stand at 182.88.

The NSE 25 Share index was down 0.50 points to stand at 4715.24.