Investors show renewed appetite for T-Bills, place bids worth Ksh40B
By Victor Mukabi, July 29, 2025Kenya’s domestic investors have expressed improved appetite for the government’s short-term securities to place bids amounting to Ksh40 billion against a target of Ksh24 billion to reverse the underperformance that has been running for close to a month.
This is even as the government continues to dig deep into the domestic market to raise funds to fund its functions under the current over Ksh900 billion budget deficit in the Ksh4.2 trillion budget.
During the week ending July 24, 2025, the 91-day Treasury bills alone attracted bids amounting to Ksh16.233 billion against the offered Ksh4 billion, which had an interest rate of 8.1 per cent.
Accepted bids
Out of the total amount, the government accepted bids amounting to Ksh16.197 billion, with the maturities set at Ksh176.341 billion to confirm the increased appetite amid shrinking external financing.
The 364-day T-bills, on the other hand, attracted bids amounting to Ksh20.5 billion against the advertised amount of Ksh10 billion at the rate of 9.719 per cent, out of which the accepted bids stood at Ksh6.1 billion below the advertised amount.
Conversely, on the 182-day T-bills, investors placed bids worth Ksh3.196 billion to fall short of the target, with the government accepting bids totalling Ksh3.174 billion at the rate of 8.4 per cent.
“The Treasury bill auction of July 24 received bids totalling Ksh40 billion against an advertised amount of Ksh24.0 billion, representing a performance of 166.7 per cent. Interest rates on the 91-day, 182-day and 364-day Treasury bills declined marginally,” CBK said in its weekly bulletin.
This, compared to the previous week, is an impressive performance as Ksh27 billion worth of bids were raised to marginally surpass the offered Ksh24 billion.
However, bond turnover in the domestic secondary market slowed done the week after falling to Ksh45.5 billion, down from Ksh61.028 billion in the previous week. “Bond turnover in the domestic secondary market decreased by 25.4 per cent during the week ending July 24, 2025,” the bulletin highlights.
At the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), the NASI, NSE 25 and NSE 20 share price indices increased by 1.6 per cent, 1.2 per cent and 1.4 per cent, respectively, during the week ending July 24, 2025.
Market capitalisation recorded an increase to stand at 2.5 trillion, slightly above the Ksh2.48 trillion recorded in the week prior, while equity turnover soured to Ksh2.96 billion from the previous Ksh1.99 billion.
Total shares traded during the period amounted to 92.33 million, up from 88.45 million.
“Market capitalisation, equity turnover and total shares traded, also increased by 1.6 per cent, 48.8 per cent and 4.4 per cent respectively,” CBK said.