Nairobi bourse 20 Share Index crosses 4,000 mark

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) 20 Share Index, which tracks the performance of large companies at the bourse crossed the 4,000 mark Monday as prices of various stocks went up.

The index was up 12.11 points to stand at 4,008.50, sustaining an upward trend it started last week.

Some of the companies whose share prices exhibited strong performance were mobile phone firms, Safaricom, Cooperative Bank and East African breweries.

Safaricom had 3.3 million shares change hands, up from 1.1 million, at between 0.16 and 0.17 dollars.

The banking sector, on the other hand, had 1.2 million shares traded, representing 14 percent of the day's traded volume with Co-op and Equity banks being the largest movers.

Manufacturing and allied sector was another big mover, with 1.4 million shares of the companies in the sector changing hands, representing 18 percent of the day's traded volume.

East African Breweries, under the sector, actively moved 1 million shares at between 2.8 dollars and 2.82 dollars.

The Energy and petroleum sector moved 938,000 shares, which accounted for 11.2 percent of the day's traded volume.

The bourse saw a total of 8 million shares valued at 4.11 million dollars change hands, against 13 million shares valued at 2.8 million dollars posted on Friday, reflecting rise in prices.

The All Share Index (NASI) ended 0.15 points lower to stand at 146.88 while the NSE 25 Share Index was down 0.05 points to settle at 4,233.02.

Trading at the bond market doubled, standing at 13.9 million dollars, up from half the value last week. Endit