Nairobi bourse records best trading day as turnover hits 20mln USD

Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) recorded one of its best trading days Thursday since January as turnover hit 20 million U.S. dollars on a volume of 95 million shares, the highest in recent times, buoyed by increased sale of Safaricom shares.

Safaricom, Kenya's leading telecom operator, traded a record 59 million shares at 0.20 dollars to represent 62 percent of the day's traded volume as foreign investors, whose participation at the bourse stood at 85 percent, sold the company's shares as much as they bought.

The banking sector had 26 million shares traded to account for 28 percent of the day's traded volume.

Kenya Commercial Bank was the most heavily traded counter in the sector, with 11 million shares changing hands at 0.27 dollars, though a decline of 5 percent.

In the energy and petroleum sector, some 3 million shares were traded, with power generator KenGen moving 1.7 million shares at 0.06 dollars.

The NSE 20 Share Index was up 0.40 points to stand at 3,179.23 while the All Share Index (NASI) shed 0.47 points to stand at 134.47. Endit