Weekly turnover at Nairobi bourse dips 24 pct as investors withhold trading

Week-on-week turnover at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) went down 24 percent Friday as foreign investors withheld trading, minimally buying as much as they sold.

Some 64 million shares worth 28 million U.S. dollars were traded at the bourse this week from 37 million dollars on a volume of 149 million shares posted the previous week.

Kenya's leading telecom Safaricom was the biggest mover, with 44 million shares as it touched an all-time high of 0.19 dollars to account for 31 percent of the week's traded volume.

Regional oil retailer KenolKobil was the second most traded counter, moving 42 million shares at 0.10 dollars of the total 48.5 million shares that exchanged hands in the energy sector.

In the banking sector, 34 million shares were moved to account for 24 percent of the week's traded volume.

Equity Bank, under the category, actively moved 16 million shares during the week at a high of 0.39 dollars. Cooperative Bank, on the other hand, closed the week 3 percent lower to trade at 0.14 dollars on a volume of 8.6 million shares.

Kenya Commercial Bank, similarly, went down 1.5 percent to 0.32 dollars to move 6.7 million shares.

The NSE 20 Share Index closed the week 36 points lower as compared to last week to stand at 3,488.67 due to decline in prices.

However, the All Share Index (NASI) ended the week 3.87 points higher to stand at 142.39 while the NSE 25 Share Index was up 97 points during the week to stand at 3,936.64.

The bond market witnessed improved trading with securities worth 83 million dollars were transacted, up from 31 million dollars. Endit