1. MONEY MARKET FUNDS
About 24 licensed Fund Managers are actively reporting and running Money Market Funds as of the end of August. Over the last two months, a new player, Lofty Corban Money Market Fund, has entered the market. Another eye-catching update that deserves mention is Zimele Money Market Fund changing its name to Zimele Fixed Income Fund.
In August 2023, GenAfrica Money Market Fund was the best-performing MMF with an average daily yield of 11.79%. Followed closely by Enwealth Money Market Fund, Lofty Corban, Cytonn Money Market Fund, and Zimele Fixed Income Fund, with average daily yields of 11.73%, 11.71%, 11.68%, and 11.65%, respectively.
To note, to get the true rate of a money market fund, remove the withholding tax of 15% from the announced yield. Some funds, though, report a net return after the withholding tax.
| No. | Fund Manager | Fund Name | Daily Average rate % |
| 1 | GenAfrica Asset Managers Limited | GenAfrica Money Market Fund | 11.789 |
| 2 | Enwealth Financial Services | Enwealth Money Market Fund | 11.728 |
| 3 | Lofty-Corban | Lofty-Corban Money Market Fund | 11.712 |
| 4 | Cytonn Asset Managers Limited | Cytonn Money Market Fund | 11.681 |
| 5 | Zimele Asset Management | Zimele Fixed Income Fund Market Fund | 11.652 |
| 6 | Etica Capital Limited | Etica Money Market Fund | 11.589 |
| 7 | Madison Investment Managers Limited | Madison Money Market Fund | 11.342 |
| 8 | Jubilee Financial Services Limited | Jubilee Money Market Fund | 11.253 |
| 9 | Apollo Asset Management Company Limited | Apollo Money Market Fund | 11.031 |
| 10 | Kuza Asset Management Limited | Kuza Money Market Fund (KES) | 10.973 |
| 11 | Sanlam Investments East Africa Limited | Sanlam Money Market Fund | 10.768 |
| 12 | Old Mutual Investment Group | Old Mutual Money Market Fund | 10.745 |
| 13 | African Alliance | African Alliance Kenya Money Market Fund | 10.684 |
| 14 | Co-op Trust Investment Services Limited | Co-op Money Market Fund | 10.612 |
| 15 | ICEA Asset Lion Asset Management Limited | ICEA Lion Money Market Fund | 10.567 |
| 16 | Genghis Capital | GenCap Hela Imara Fund | 10.401 |
| 17 | KCB Group | KCB Money Market Fund | 10.278 |
| 18 | Nabo Capital Limited | Nabo Africa Money Market Fund | 10.212 |
| 19 | ABSA Bank | Absa Shilling Fund MMF | 10.198 |
| 20 | Dry Associates | Dry Associates Money Market Fund | 10.14 |
| 21 | CIC Asset Managers Limited | CIC Money Market Fund | 9.8356 |
| 22 | Orient Asset Managers | Orient Kasha Money Market Fund | 9.3833 |
| 23 | Britam Asset Managers (Kenya) Limited | British-American Money Market Fund | 9.1833 |
| 24 | Equity Bank | Equity Money Market Fund | 8.4189 |
2. FIXED-INCOME SECURITIES
- TREASURY BONDS
The Government offered two bonds to raise KES 40 Bn for budgetary support: a new 2-year Bond, FXD1/2023/02, and a reopened 5-year Bond, FXD1/2023/5, with coupon rates of 16.97% and 16.84%, respectively.
In the initial offer, the bond offers recorded an oversubscription, having received bids worth KES 53 Bn translating to a 132.5% subscription rate against the KES 40 Bn that was offered, with the 2-year Bond receiving the highest interest of about 72.3% of the bids but with a 30.4% acceptance rate which can be attributed to Government keenness to manage the interest rates.
The Government then reopened the two bonds to fundraise a further 21 Bn eliciting bids totaling 23.6 Bn with the 2-year Bond receiving the highest interest. In total, the Government borrowed about 42.6 Bn through bonds in August.
The performance was partly attributable to the improved liquidity in the money market, the market’s appetite for the relatively short tenor of the bonds, and attractive rates.
Particulars of the Bonds
| Name | Duration (years) | Maturity Date | Coupon Months | Coupon Rate | Tax | Net Return |
| FXD1/2023/02 | 2 | 18-Aug-25 | Feb, Aug | 16.973% | 15% | 14.427% |
| FXD1/2023/5 | 5 | 10-Jul-28 | Jan, July | 16.844% | 15% | 14.317% |
- TREASURY BILLS
The Treasury bills auction in the month had the 91-day paper with the highest demand, reflecting investors’ preference for short-term government securities due to the interest rate environment. Below is a table with the returns for the 91,182 and 364 papers over the last month:
| Rate % | Average Return % | |||||
| Paper | Aug – 31st | Aug – 28th | Aug – 21st | Aug – 14th | Aug – 7th | |
| 91 | 13.9851 | 13.7332 | 13.4754 | 13.1104 | 12.6855 | 13.3979 |
| 182 | 13.9388 | 13.4911 | 13.2758 | 13.4381 | 12.5579 | 13.3403 |
| 364 | 13.7650 | 14.014 | 13.7459 | 13.3402 | 13.1072 | 13.5945 |
3. EQUITIES
In August, the Kenyan stock market faced challenges, with major indexes like Nasi, NSE 20, and NSE 25 falling by 5.9%, 2.4%, and 5.5%, respectively. This was mainly due to big companies like KCB, Absa, and Safaricom losing value (17.2%, 5.3%, and 8.9% down), but some large companies like NCBA and Diamond Trust Bank-Kenya managed to gain 3.3% and 2.1% respectively.
The total trading activity went down by 29.8% in August, dropping to $37.7 mn from $53.8 mn in July.
Short-term prospects for the stock market are uncertain due to a challenging environment and foreign investors selling off assets. However, in the long term, there’s optimism because of low valuations and the potential for global and local economic recovery.
4. REAL ESTATE
Fahari I-REIT, one of the listed REITs in the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), received approval from the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) to convert from an unrestricted REIT to a restricted REIT; thereby delisting it from the main investment market segment (MIMS) and list on the unquoted securities platform (USP).
The conversion will entail redeeming 20.2% of issued units from non-professional investors. This means that investors, with units less than KES 5 million can redeem their investment at an offer price of KES 11.00 per unit up from the current price of KES. 6 per unit representing an 83.3% upside. The redemption begins in September 2023 through filling out a form of acceptance or via USSD and not through the sale on the secondary market.
