Nairobi, Feb. 1 -- The weakening of the shilling and falling blue chip stock prices have left the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) at a disadvantage against African peers in the race for limited foreign investor dollars, dampening hopes of a recovery this year for the depressed market.

The Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) Kenya Index, which guides foreign investors on local market investments, shows a return of -34 percent over the past 12 months.

This index currently tracks the performance of the shares of Safaricom, Equity and KCB in Kenya on dollar terms.

Only Zimbabwe (-71 percent) and Morocco (-37 percent) have recorded a lower dollarized return compared to Kenya in the period among the 10 frontier and emerging markets...