Nairobi bourse turnover drops 30 pct on low foreign investors' participation

Trading at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) declined 30 percent Thursday as foreign investors cut participation to 59 percent from 82 percent in the previous session.

Some 16 million shares valued at 4 million U.S. dollars were traded, down from 27 million worth 5.7 million dollars.

The drop in foreign investors' participation saw foreign buys and sales go down 39 percent and 61 percent respectively.

Equity Bank, as in Wednesday's trading, was the top mover, exchanging 4 million shares at an unchanged price of 0.26 dollars, mainly foreign buys.

Kenya Commercial Bank declined by 3.6 percent to trade at 0.26 dollars on a volume of 3.6 million to be the second best mover as the banking counter moved 9.3 million shares in total.

The energy sector had 2 million shares traded as regional oil marketer KenolKobil advanced by 1.3 percent to settle at 0.11 dollars on a volume of 1 million shares.

The NSE 20 Share Index closed the day 17.93 points higher to stand at 3,239.80, reversing a negative trend recorded Wednesday. Similarly, the All Share Index (NASI) ended 0.29 points higher to stand at 131.63 while the NSE 25 Share Index gained 13.99 points to stand at 3,461.71.

The bond market had securities worth 19 million dollars transacted, compared to 15 million dollars posted the previous session. Endit