Foreign investors buy bank stocks at Nairobi bourse after steep price fall

Foreign investors dominated trading (82 percent) at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) Wednesday as they went mainly for banking stocks whose prices have declined by up to 40 percent following the capping of interest rates.

Equity Bank, Cooperative Bank, Diamond Trust Bank and Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) are some of the banking stocks that recorded a surge in foreign buys.

Equity Bank exchanged 7.3 million shares at a low of 0.26 U.S. dollars to be the top mover, while KCB closed the day at 0.28 dollars and traded 4.2 million shares, mainly foreign buys.

In total, the banking sector had 14.4 million shares traded, which represented 52 percent of the day's traded volume.

Safaricom was the day's second biggest mover, with 6.3 million shares changing hands at between 0.18 dollars and 0.19 dollars.

In the manufacturing sector, some 2.9 million shares were traded, all belonging to Mumias Sugar after gaining 9 percent. The commercial and services sector traded 1.9 million shares, with TPS Eastern Africa actively moving 1.2 million shares at 0.18 dollars.

In total, some 27 million shares worth 5.7 million dollars were traded, up from 15 million worth 3.3 million in the previous session.

The NSE 20 Share Index was down 1.94 points to stand at 3,221.87 while All Share Index (NASI) shed 0.24 points to stand at 131.34. Endit