Buying a share on the Nairobi Securities Exchange takes three things: a CDS account, a licensed broker to place the order, and money in the account. This guide walks through each, then the fees, the tax and what changes if you live abroad.
What a CDS account is, the documents CDSC asks for, the three ways to open one (Dosikaa, a broker app, a branch), how long it takes, fees and common problems.
How NSE shares, money market funds and Treasury bills compare on risk, return, access, minimums and tax in Kenya, and why most people hold more than one.
How the diaspora and foreign investors open a CDS account remotely, fund it, trade across time zones, and what the 15 % withholding tax and the shilling mean.
What happens between tapping Buy and owning the shares: market and limit orders, the NSE sessions, the 10 % daily band, single-share trading and T+3.
Every stockbroker and investment bank licensed by the CMA as at 14 September 2026, with websites, the levies on every trade and how to check a licence.
Every block on a KenyaStocks company page explained: the price block, the chart and its record since 2006, market cap, 52-week range, volume, P/E and news.
Three ways your share count changes without a trade: rights issues (HF Group 2024, KenGen 2016), bonus issues (I&M, NCBA, StanChart) and splits, worked through.
From declaration to the money in your account: book closure, the ex-dividend day, registrars and M-PESA payment, the 5 % and 15 % withholding tax, and yield.
The NSE All Share Index explained: how it is weighted, why Safaricom and the big banks steer it, how it differs from NSE 20 and NSE 25, and how to read a day.
The NSE's daily sessions in East Africa Time, when KenyaStocks updates, every 2026 public holiday the exchange closes for, the Sunday rule and T+3.
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