Standard Group stands out in a directionless market
The clearest story on the Nairobi Securities Exchange today, Wednesday April 1, 2026, did not come from the index heavyweights but from Standard Group, which surged 8.0% to 6.48 KES while the NASI held flat at 706.42 and the NSE 20 was unchanged at 3,448.73. That divergence matters because it points to selective buying in mid-caps even as the headline benchmarks showed no net movement.
The session was firmer beneath the surface than the index print suggests. Market breadth came in at 28 gainers, 21 losers and 7 unchanged counters, meaning advancers beat decliners by 7 stocks across a universe of 56. For readers tracking the Kenya stock market, that is often a more useful signal than a flat benchmark, because it shows capital rotating rather than leaving the market altogether.
Key figures
- SGL +8.0% at 6.48 KES
- NASI 706.42, day change 0.00%
- Safaricom +4.4% on 605.7 million KES traded value
- versus