Safaricom reclaims top mover spot at Nairobi bourse

Kenya's telecom operator Safaricom reclaimed its top spot as the biggest mover at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) on Friday, trading 10.8 million shares from previous day's 3.6 million.

The 10.8 million Safaricom's shares, which changed hands at an average price of 0.17 U.S. dollars, were worth 1.8 million dollars.

The rise in trading of the telecom's shares saw market turnover swell to at 4.4 million dollars from previous trading of 3.5 million dollars.

Safaricom, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), East African Breweries Ltd, Equity Bank and Cooperative Bank accounted for 87 percent of the day's total turnover.

The NSE 20 Share Index was up 0.48 percent to close at 3,920 from 3,908 the previous day, reversing a downward streak.

Similarly, the All share Index (NASI) was up 0.59 percent to close at 146.08 while the 25 share index closed the day at 4,173.53.

However, as compared to end of last week, the NSE 20 Share Index shaved off 79.33 points or 1.98 percent during the week, while the NASI shed 0.42 points and 25 Share Index 46 points.

Similarly, total weekly turnover declined to 20 million dollars from the previous week's 24 million dollars. The total number of shares traded stood at 75 million against 75.2 million posted the previous week.

The banking sector, as a category, was the week's biggest mover with 34.6 million shares traded that accounted for 46 of the week's traded volume.

KCB Group, in the sector, was the most-heavily traded counter with 14.8 million shares while Equity Group Holdings came second at 13 million shares while Co-op bank had 3.9 million.

Safaricom, under the telecommunication category, was the week's biggest mover with 21 million shares changing hands.

The energy and petroleum sector moved 4.6 million shares, which accounted for 6.1 percent of the week's traded volume while the manufacturing and& allied sector moved 4.2 million shares. Endit