July to Dec will likely be dominated by the slated IPOs namely Kenya Re, Safaricom and far-fetchedly, (NBK, Telkom) and the General Election. Analysing these and their likely impacts:
Kenya Re: As Kenya Re is using an AccessKenya type of IPO mode, this will lock out some of the speculative retail investors and will also reduce the upside expected. Its unlikely that Kenya Re will have a strong downward impact on the NSE. But bear in mind that with previous oversubscriptions, overextended refund periods, the retail sector are becoming increasing choosy about IPOs. Verdict: minimal downside impact on NSE index.
Safaricom: GoK will be under immense political and public pressure to do this IPO as a free-for-all i.e. similar to KenGen. If it does, the NSE may well see counters falling by 5-10% as liquidity dries up. But, will GoK allow the wider market to fall at the expense of putting smiles on the same folks? Yes/maybe. Bottomline: expect some impact on NSE counters
General Elections: Impact has been -ve in past elections with some correlation being seen when there has been uncertainty as to the new head of state. This time will be no different except that it should be clear within July/Aug how bad the impact will be on NSE. At the moment, the political consensus is that IF the ODM house gets itself in order and unites behind its candidate, there might be a real political contest in which case expect some downside on the NSE.
Other highlights will be the interim results of various shares, especially Equity (can it double Q2 profits to justify current multiples being reflected in its share price?), EA Cables, NBK (will they get any uplift from the npl pay-off as alleged by some?) and KQ (any impact of accident?) and will Mumias give its long-suffering shareholders some +ve news by releasing improved FY 06 results. Also, in the frame will be M&A in form of CFC Stanbic who its clear they have done their homework in terms mitigating against BOC/Carbacid-type of hold-ups. As well as Equity/HFCK?
2 comments:
its so difficult predicting the kenyan politics as things are at the moment, it would be abit like deciding which direction the winds will blow from or to. Seems like our politicians thrives on and enjoy uncertainity regardless of the impact on the economy and all else.
JM-our politicians are self-seekers which means they will only change direction when its suits them to do so. Investors by and large dislike uncertainity.
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