High demand for Safaricom, bank stocks lift equity trading at Kenya bourse

The number of shares traded at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) more than doubled from 19 million to 39 million Tuesday on increased demand of Safaricom and banks stocks.

Kenyan mobile operator, Safaricom had 21 million shares traded at between 0.17 U.S. dollars and 0.18 dollars, up from 13 million shares Monday, representing 53 percent of the day's traded volume.

The banking sector, on the other hand, had 10 million shares traded, representing 24 percent of the day's traded volume.

Equity Holdings was the most heavily traded counter in the sector with 6 million shares changing hands at between 0.38 dollars and 0.39 dollars.

Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Group, on the other hand, moved 604,000 shares and closed at 0.42 dollars. The bank was the second biggest mover the previous day after Safaricom, trading 1.4 million shares.

The energy and petroleum sector moved 6 million shares, which accounted for 14 percent of the day's traded volume while the construction sector had 692,000 shares traded and the insurance sector, on the other hand, had 1.7 million.

Following the increased trading, turnover surged to 8.51 million U.S. dollars from the previous session's 5.6 million dollars.

The NSE 20 Share Index was up 5.07 points to stand at 3,934.58 as it continued with its upward trend while All Share Index (NASI) edged 0.12 point higher to stand at 146.43.

However, the NSE 25 Share Index shed 1.5 points to settle at 4,171.69. The bond market had bonds worth 7.6 million dollars transacted, down from 11 million the previous day. Endit