Nairobi Securities Exchange — Safaricom Rises 1.8% on FY2026 Results as NSE 25 Slips 0.26%
Safaricom rose 1.8% to 34.1 KES on June 29, 2026 after releasing audited full-year results, helping steady a softer market where the NSE 25 fell 0.26%. The stock outperformed as the Kenyan shilling weakened to 129.42 per dollar.
|6 min read
Safaricom gave the Kenyan market its clearest anchor on Monday, June 29, 2026, after releasing audited results for the year ended March 31, 2026. The stock rose 1.8% to KES 34.1, outperforming a softer backdrop in which the NSE 25 slipped 0.26% to 6,167.92 points, underlining how the exchange’s telecom heavyweight can still steady sentiment even when broader breadth is negative.
Key figures
- Safaricom +1.8% at KES 34.1
- NSE 25 -0.26% at 6,167.92
- USD/KES 129.42, up 0.69%
- Safaricom traded value: KES 410.45 million
- Brent crude: $73.72/bbl, up 2.4% on the day
Market context
The June 29, 2026 session ended with negative breadth, with 19 gainers, 22 losers and 14 unchanged counters out of 55 listed names. That matters because Safaricom’s rise was not simply another green print on the board; it came in a market where decliners outnumbered advancers, making the stock’s post-results resilience more meaningful for the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
Liquidity stayed concentrated in the market’s largest names. Equity Group Holdings led traded value at KES 2.85 billion, followed by East African Breweries at KES 619.48 million, Safaricom Plc at KES 410.45 million, KCB Group at KES 217.22 million, and Diamond Trust Bank at KES 127.60 million. Yet heavy turnover did not translate into uniform gains: Equity fell 0.6%, EABL lost 2.2%, KCB was flat, while Safaricom added 1.8%.
Macro conditions also shaped how investors read the day’s earnings. The Kenyan shilling weakened, with USD/KES at 129.42, up 0.69%. For Safaricom, whose revenues are overwhelmingly domestic but whose network equipment, technology spending and parts of capital expenditure can be dollar-linked, that FX move is relevant. At the same time, Brent crude rose 2.4% to $73.72 a barrel amid continued focus on U.S.-Iran peace talks and shifting oil supply expectations. Kenya is a net oil importer, so firmer crude prices feed into transport and energy costs, with second-round effects on household spending and corporate margins.
Safaricom earnings 2026: why the stock held up
The central event of the session was Safaricom’s audited FY2026 release, published on June 29, 2026, according to the company announcement. The immediate market verdict was constructive rather than cautious: the stock closed up 1.8%, suggesting investors saw enough underlying strength in the numbers to support the name despite a weaker benchmark.
That reaction matters because Safaricom remains the defining stock on the Kenya stock market. On the NSE, its index weight and liquidity mean earnings from the company influence not only telecom sentiment but also the broader tone of the market. Safaricom is not just a mobile operator; it is also the owner of M-Pesa, the country’s dominant mobile money platform, and a proxy for digital consumption trends in Kenya. When the stock rises 1.8% on a day the NSE 25 falls 0.26%, the market is making a relative-quality judgment.
The resilience also reflects the defensive features of Safaricom’s business model. In an environment where the shilling has weakened 0.69% against the dollar and oil prices are moving higher, investors often lean toward companies with recurring revenue streams from essential services. Safaricom’s mix of voice, mobile data and financial services has historically offered that profile, with M-Pesa as the structural growth engine. For retail readers checking the safaricom share price today, the signal from the tape was clear: the market treated the FY2026 release as a stabilizing event rather than a trigger for immediate profit-taking.
Volume reinforced that reading. Safaricom traded KES 410.45 million, giving the 1.8% gain more credibility than a thinly traded move would have. A rise on light turnover can be technical; a rise backed by meaningful liquidity suggests broader participation. That stands in contrast to the earlier market setup referenced in Bourse de Nairobi — WTK s’envole de 19,9%, le NSE 25 gagne 1,35% malgré le repli de Safaricom, where Safaricom had weighed on the market instead.
Other earnings releases shaped the tape
Safaricom was not alone on the reporting calendar. Official announcements on June 29, 2026 also included audited results from TotalEnergies Marketing Kenya, Nation Media Group, Car & General, Express Kenya, Home Afrika and Limuru Tea. That concentration of releases helps explain the mixed pattern across NSE share prices.
Among gainers, TotalEnergies Marketing Kenya jumped 6.2% to KES 45.7 after its audited 2025 results. The move came even as Brent climbed to $73.72, a dynamic that can lift nominal revenue for fuel marketers while also threatening demand if pump prices rise. Nation Media Group, also out with audited numbers, gained 0.8% to KES 13.35, pointing to a measured but positive reception.
By contrast, Limuru Tea Plc fell 2.4% to KES 525 despite releasing audited 2025 results. That decline is easier to understand in the wider commodity context: coffee prices dropped 4.4% to 274.2, and agricultural counters remain highly sensitive to export pricing, FX and logistics costs. Tea is not quoted in the supplied macro table, but the broader message is the same: earnings alone do not guarantee support if investors are worried about sector headwinds.
Banks, consumer names and telecoms split apart
The session also highlighted a sharper sector rotation. In financials, I&M Holdings rose 5.3% to KES 69.5, while Absa Bank Kenya fell 1.7% to KES 32.0, NCBA lost 1.9% to KES 90.0, and Equity slipped 0.6%. The NSE’s launch of a Banking Sector Index on June 29, 2026 therefore arrives at a time when Kenyan bank stocks are trading less as a single bloc and more on name-specific fundamentals. For readers tracking the Equity Bank share price or the KCB share price, that divergence is a useful reminder that sector labels can hide very different earnings and balance-sheet stories.
In consumer stocks, EABL dropped 2.2% to KES 269.0 on KES 619.48 million of traded value, one of the heaviest lines on the board. Weakness in such a large consumer bellwether helped drag the index lower and likely reflected concern over disposable income pressure as FX and energy costs rise. By contrast, Unga Group gained 4.6% to KES 27.2, showing that the market was discriminating within the consumer space rather than selling the sector indiscriminately.
Transport and energy names added another layer. Kenya Airways climbed 7.2% to KES 5.98, while TotalEnergies Marketing Kenya rose 6.2%. Kenya Airways’ gain may look counterintuitive with Brent up 2.4%, given jet fuel sensitivity, but the weekly oil move was flat at 0.0%, and investors may also be weighing traffic recovery and company-specific factors. That is a useful lesson from the Nairobi stock exchange today: global inputs matter, but they rarely act alone.
Outlook
The next step for the market is to digest Safaricom’s FY2026 details more fully, especially any guidance embedded in management commentary around M-Pesa growth, data monetization and the Ethiopia business, all of which are central to the telecom investment case. Traders will also watch whether USD/KES at 129.42 keeps pressuring imported cost lines, and whether Brent holds near $73.72 as global oil headlines evolve. For now, the June 29, 2026 session delivered a clear message: in a market where the benchmark fell 0.26%, Safaricom’s earnings release once again made the stock the main stabilizer of the NSE Kenya today.
