Nairobi bourse key index rises above 3,200 points as stock gains

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) 20 Share Index gained 28 points Friday to close the week above the 3,200 points mark boosted by increase in share prices of banking stocks.

The benchmark index ended the day at 3,208.25 points from 3,180.29 points Thursday, an indication of improved performance of top stocks.

Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and Cooperative Bank are among stocks in the top 20 index which gained Friday. KCB went up over 5 percent to close the day at 0.29 U.S. dollars and move about half a million shares.

On the other hand, Cooperative Bank rose 2 percent to close at 0.12 dollars on a volume of 1.4 million shares.

Equity turnover stood at 2.7 million dollars on a volume of 13 million shares Friday, with Equity Bank being the top mover at 4.7 million shares. Safaricom was the second mover, with 3.6 million shares at 0.19 dollars.

Overall, weekly turnover went down to 42 million dollars on a volume of 170 million shares, down from 67 million dollars on 358 million shares due to poor trading, especially Friday.

Safaricom was the week's biggest mover, with 78 million shares changing hands at 0.19 dollars, which accounted for 46 percent of the week's traded volume.

The banking sector had 57 million shares traded while the energy sector moved 7.2 million shares.

The bond market during the week witnessed reduced activity, with bonds worth 43 million dollars transacted compared to 88 million dollars registered the previous week. Enditem