The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE: NSE) recorded an increase of 333,043 investors in the first nine months of 2026, lifting its registered investor base to 2.36mn at the end of September amid renewed listing activity and a sustained equity-market rally.
The increase from 2.027mn investors at the start of the year was more than three times the 98,063 added during the corresponding period of 2025, according to Capital Markets Authority (CMA) data reported by Business Daily on October 26.
The nine-month addition also exceeded the 174,400 investors added during the whole of 2025 and nearly matched the 346,616 increase recorded over the four years through December 2025. The figures represent growth of approximately 16.4% in the registered investor base since the start of 2026, although they do not necessarily correspond to the same number of newly opened trading accounts.
The CMA figures also showed that men accounted for approximately 67.5% of registered equity investors at the end of September, numbering about 1.593mn compared with 767,472 women.
The expansion coincided with the return of major listings to the exchange, led by the March initial public offering (IPO) of state-owned petroleum transport and storage operator Kenya Pipeline Company (NSE: KPC), Kenya’s first government-led IPO since Safaricom’s flotation in 2008.
The government raised KES106.3bn ($823mn) by selling a 65% stake in KPC through an offering of 11.81bn shares at KES9 each, expanding the range of large listed companies available to investors while advancing its privatisation programme. The offer was 105.7% subscribed, with state-owned Uganda National Oil Company acquiring 20.15% of KPC in the IPO to become its second-largest shareholder.
The IPO’s direct contribution to investor numbers is unclear. About 73,000 individual investors applied for KPC shares, and existing shareholders could participate without opening new trading accounts. The CMA figures do not establish how many investors entered the market because of the IPO or other new listings.
Family Bank (NSE: FMLY), a Kenyan commercial lender, followed on June 23 with a listing by introduction of approximately 1.66bn shares at an initial reference price of KES18 apiece. Unlike the KPC IPO, the listing did not raise new capital but enabled existing shareholders to trade their holdings on the exchange. Its transaction adviser described it as the NSE’s largest private-sector admission in more than 17 years.
The market also added property investment vehicles, including TRIFIC Green USD I-REIT, which trades on the main investment market segment, and ALP Industrial I-REIT, which is quoted on the exchange’s restricted market segment.
Market capitalisation rises above KES4 trillion
The increase in registered investors accompanied a recovery in share valuations, with NSE market capitalisation rising to KES4.12 trillion at the end of September from KES2.94 trillion in December 2025, according to the CMA’s third-quarter statistical bulletin.
The KES1.18 trillion increase reflected new listings as well as higher share prices, so it overstates the gain in value of previously listed shares.
The NSE All Share Index (NASI) gained 9.57% during the third quarter to 245.60 points, while the NSE 20 Share Index rose 14.95% to 4,316.96 points.
CMA chief executive Wyckliffe Shamiah said the market’s performance, including capitalisation exceeding KES4 trillion for the first time, demonstrated the growing confidence and resilience of Kenya’s capital markets.
The larger investor base did not translate into consistently higher reported trading activity. Equity turnover fell 72.44% quarter on quarter to KES72.72bn during July-September from KES263.87bn in the preceding quarter, although it remained 57.32% above the corresponding period of 2025.
The sharp quarterly decline was largely attributable to an exceptional block trade on June 30, when shares worth approximately KES204.3bn in Safaricom (NSE: SCOM), Kenya’s largest telecommunications operator, changed hands in connection with the government’s sale of a 15% stake to South Africa’s Vodacom Group (JSE: VOD).
Kenya’s High Court annulled the share sale on September 15 and ordered the stake restored to government ownership. The Court of Appeal rejected applications by the government and Vodacom to suspend that ruling on October 13 pending an appeal. The June transaction nonetheless remains in second-quarter trading turnover.
Excluding the Safaricom transaction, second-quarter turnover would have been approximately KES59.57bn, below the third quarter’s KES72.72bn. The comparison illustrates how the exceptional transaction distorted the reported quarterly decline, although it does not represent an official measure of underlying trading activity. The NSE reported in August that first-half equity turnover excluding the Safaricom deal rose 111% year on year.
Domestic institutions, rather than foreign investors, have supported the rally. Kenyan pension funds increased their listed-equity holdings by 41.7% to KES443.35bn in the six months to June, according to Retirement Benefits Authority data, even as foreign investors sold a net KES4.55bn of NSE shares in August, the largest monthly outflow in 10 months.
The expansion of the investor base alongside rising share valuations points to renewed interest in Kenyan equities, although the extent to which new investors are actively trading remains unclear. Sustained growth will depend on whether the larger investor population translates into broader market participation and liquidity.
The next test is supermarket chain Quickmart’s KES15bn ($116mn) IPO, which closes on October 30, with trading scheduled to begin on November 12.
See IntelliNews: Nairobi Securities Exchange H1 profit jumps 386% as Safaricom block trade boosts turnover
See IntelliNews: Foreign investors pull $35.15mn from Nairobi stocks as blue chips hit highs