Nairobi bourse turnover swells on Safaricom inflows

Equity turnover at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) surged 235 percent Tuesday to 13 million U.S. dollars on a volume of 61 million shares on robust trading of Safaricom shares.

The bourse had on Monday moved 16 million shares worth 4 million dollars in a stifled trading session dominated by banks stocks.

East African nation's leading telecom operator Safaricom was the top mover Tuesday, attracting foreign inflows as it traded 53.6 million shares, more than 88 percent of the total volume at a high of 0.2 dollars.

Bank stocks came second, with CFC Stanbic moving 1.4 million shares, mainly foreign sales, at 0.73 dollars, while Equity Bank moved 883,000 shares at a high of 0.27 dollars.

Overall, the banking sector traded 3.8 million shares that represented 6 percent of the day's traded volume.

The manufacturing and allied sector had 1.1 million shares traded, with Mumias Sugar trading 530,000 shares at a low of 0.01 dollars.

Other sectors such as insurance, energy and commercial services did not trade more than a million shares.

The bond market had securities worth 19 million dollars transacted, a huge rise from 3 million dollars the previous day. Endit