Ipahco
Learn
A short glossary of terms you'll see across the screener and your portfolio.
- Ask price
- The lowest price a seller is currently willing to accept for a share.
- Bear market
- A sustained period of falling prices across the market.
- Bid price
- The highest price a buyer is currently willing to pay for a share.
- Bull market
- A sustained period of rising prices across the market.
- CDS account
- A Central Depository System account -- the account that legally holds a Kenyan investor's shares in electronic (dematerialised) form.
- Cost basis
- The original price paid for an investment, used to work out gain or loss when it is later sold.
- Dividend yield
- A company's annual dividend per share divided by its current share price, expressed as a percentage.
- EPS
- Earnings per share -- a company's profit divided by the number of shares in issue.
- Market capitalisation
- A company's total value on the exchange: its current share price multiplied by the total number of shares in issue.
- NASI
- The NSE All Share Index -- tracks the total market value of all listed shares combined, weighted by market capitalisation.
- NSE 20
- The NSE 20 Share Index -- tracks the price performance of 20 selected large, liquid companies on the exchange.
- P/E ratio
- The price-to-earnings ratio: a company's share price divided by its earnings per share. A common (though incomplete) way to gauge whether a share is cheap or expensive relative to its profits.
- Portfolio
- The full collection of investments -- shares, bonds, and other assets -- held by one investor.
- Ticker
- The short code used to identify a listed company when trading, e.g. SCOM for Safaricom PLC.
- Volume
- The number of shares that changed hands in a given period, e.g. one trading day.