The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE)  was ranked the worst performing in the world, according to MSCI Indices tracking frontier markets.

This is the fourth time the Nairobi bourse has been ranked the worst performing in the last eight weeks.

All NSE benchmark indices have been in the red for the last five consecutive weeks, Standard Investment Bank said in a weekly market wrap report.

Last week the NSE All-Share Index, NSE 20-Share Index and NSE 25-Share Index declined 2.7 per cent, 2.3 per cent and 1.8 per cent respectively.

“There are more foreigners exiting than locals. They are bargaining that things could get worse,” Johnson Nderi, manager corporate finance and advisory at ABC Capital, told the Business Daily early on Monday.

Possible Violence

Capital Economists said in a report last week that Kenya could be headed for violence that could plunge it into a chaos similar to the post-election violence witnessed after the December 2007 presidential elections.

The 2007/08 violence left more than 1,200 people dead and hundreds of thousands others internally displaced.

It also caused massive disruptions to the economy – both locally and regionally – as businesses could not move goods across the country.

“The latest developments all suggest that the country’s chance of avoiding a violent (and economically painful) crisis is dwindling,” Capital Economics said in a note.

“Political tensions in Kenya have escalated since 1st September, when the Supreme Court unexpectedly ruled that President Uhuru Kenyatta’s re-election was marred by irregularities and ordered a re-run election.”