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FTSE Group (“FTSE”), the award winning global index provider, and the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) today announce the creation of a new family of indices- the FTSE NSE Kenya Index Series – which track the performance of the largest and most widely traded stocks listed on the NSE, Africa’s fourth oldest securities exchange.
The launch of the indices is the result of an extensive market consultation process with local asset owners and fund managers and reflects the growing interest in new domestic investment and diversification opportunities in the East African region. Designed to enhance and capture the depth of information available on the Kenyan market, the indices are also suitable as the foundation for ETFs and other index-linked products which can be utilised by global investors wishing to access this frontier market.
The FTSE NSE Kenya Index Series is built to FTSE’s renowned standards of index design, which emphasise transparency, tradability and strong governance, with index data available across a range of global vendor platforms. The index series consists of:
• The FTSE NSE Kenya 25 Index
A tradable index reflecting the performance of the 25 most liquid stocks trading on the Nairobi Securities Exchange. The index is calculated in Kenyan shillings and published in real-time.
• The FTSE NSE Kenya 15 Index
A tradable index reflecting the performance of the largest 15 stocks trading on the Nairobi Securities Exchange, ranked by full market capitalisation. The index is calculated in Kenyan shillings and published in real-time.
The indices are designed using FTSE’s robust rules for free-float and liquidity to provide investor confidence, and will be reviewed semi-annually in June and December.
Jonathan Cooper, Managing Director, FTSE Middle East and Africa, said: “This is an exciting partnership which combines our global index expertise with NSE’s local market knowledge, offering investors robust tools to reliably assess, measure and gain exposure to the Kenyan market. The launch of these new indices further underscores FTSE’s commitment to work with leading institutions in Africa, creating innovative indices that meet evolving market requirements. This is the first step towards a range of new indices to support investment opportunities in Kenya for both domestic and international investors.”
Peter Mwangi, Chief Executive, Nairobi Securities Exchange, said: “In line with our vision “to be a leading securities exchange in Africa, with a global reach”, the NSE endeavours to build on its existing suite of products and services in order to meet the evolving needs of our domestic and international investors. Our partnership with FTSE illustrates our commitment to meeting this need. The FTSE NSE Kenya index series will allow investors to measure the performance of their portfolios and I am convinced that these indices will attract additional capital flows into the domestic Kenyan market and enhance liquidity and market capitalisation. This is a crucial part of the efforts of the Nairobi Securities Exchange to evolve into a full service securities exchange which supports trading, clearing and settlement of equities, debt, derivatives and other associated instruments.”
