At today’s NSE trading, we will be closely observing the following counters:

• Williamson Tea – One of Kenya’s biggest tea producing companies could face compromised earnings following threatened tea exports to Iran which is a major buyer of Kenyan tea and is now facing a shortage of US dollars used to buy Kenyan tea according to a report in today’s Business Daily. The tea grower’s share fell for a second day on Friday losing 8 Shillings to close at KES 270 from KES 278 on Thursday (Bloomberg).
• Barclays Bank – On Friday, Pesatalk reported that the bank cut its lending rate to 21 percent from 22.5 percent following the CBK’s base lending rate reduction on Thursday. The bank’s share gained for a second day on Friday, gaining 0.7 percent to close at KES 13.55 from KES 13.45 on Thursday (Bloomberg). We will observe if the lending rate reduction will have significant impact on the share’s performance.
• KenolKobil – It has been revealed in the Business Daily that the majority shareholders of the firm have agreed to sell their shares while minority shareholders will have no choice but to give up their stake at an agreed price in the petroleum marketer’s planned takeover by Switzerland’s Puma Energy which now has court approval. The share gained 15 cents on Friday after losing on Wednesday and Thursday closing at KES 16.00 from KES 15.85 on Thursday (Bloomberg).
• Kakuzi – The share lost five Shillings on Friday to close at KES 75.00 from KES 80.00 on Thursday in the share’s biggest one month drop according to NSE data.