Kenya's bourse key index falls to four-year-low

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) 20 Share Index dropped 44 points Monday to close the day at 3,662.15, a four year low.

The index has been on a downward trend in the last few weeks losing over 1,100 points compared to a similar period last year as prices of key stocks fall making investors increase sales.

Top on the list of key stocks whose prices fell Monday are Safaricom (2 percent), Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) Group (1.5 percent), East African Breweries Ltd (1 percent), Centum Investment (1.1 percent) and Cooperative Bank (2.4 percent).

Some 23 million shares valued at 6.6 million U.S. dollars were traded up from 16 million shares valued at 3.7 million posted last week Friday.

East African nation's leading telecom Safaricom went down some cents to 0.17 dollars as it moved 4.8 million shares.

The banking sector cumulatively had 6 million shares traded, with Equity Group Holdings actively moving 3.2 million shares at 0.38 dollars, KCB Group 2.2 million and Barclays Bank moved 184,000.

The insurance sector had 3.8 million shares traded with Britam Holdings being the most heavily traded counter as it moved 3.4 million shares at 0.14 dollars.

The commercial and allied sector had 599,000 shares traded with national carrier Kenya Airways moving 384,000 shares.

As the NSE 20 Share Index, the All Share Index (NASI) shed 1.5 points to settle at 140.23 and the NSE 25 Share Index was down 43.87 points to stand at 3,964.70.

The bond market witnessed reduced activity, with securities worth 3.2 million dollars transacted compared to 220 million posted Friday. Endit