Centum Investment Company stood out on Thursday, 23 April 2026 for a simple reason: it rose while the broader Kenyan market fell. CTUM gained 2.9% to 14.3 KES, placing it among the day’s top gainers even as the NSE 25 slipped 0.68% to 5,727.43 and the NSE 20 lost 0.37% to 3,591.28.
That relative strength matters more than the headline move alone. Market breadth was negative, with 22 advancers, 27 decliners and 7 unchanged out of 56 counters. In other words, CTUM did not rise because everything was going up. It rose in a session where selling pressure remained visible across much of the board, especially in the banking names that usually anchor sentiment on the Nairobi bourse.
Market context: banks weaken, CTUM outperforms
The picture from NSE Kenya today was shaped by heavy trading in the large financial counters, but not by positive price action. KCB Group fell 1.1% and led value traded at 150,023,087.5 KES. Equity Group Holdings dropped 1.9% on 83,304,435.0 KES, while Safaricom Plc eased 1.0% on 82,615,485.05 KES.