Nairobi bourse turnover, key indices decline as foreign investors cut trading

Some 21 million shares valued at 5.7 million U.S. dollars were traded at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) Wednesday, down from 60 million worth 13 million dollars Tuesday as foreign investors cut trading by 60 percent.

Leading telecom Safaricom was the top mover trading 7.4 million shares after going up 1.5 percent to 0.20 dollars. The telecom had moved over 56 million shares at 0.19 dollars Tuesday to lift the bourse to a new high.

Equity Bank was the second mover with 5.6 million shares after edging up 3.6 percent to trade at a high of 0.30 dollars. On the other hand, Kenya Commercial Bank and Cooperative Bank moved 3.2 million and 1.3 million shares.

Overall, the banking sector was the top trader moving 10.3 million shares that represented 47 percent of the day's volume.

The energy sector traded 1.3 million shares with Uganda electricity generator Umeme declining to 0.16 dollars on a volume of 738,000 shares while KenolKobil went up to 0.11 dollars to move 505,000 shares.

The insurance, commercial and manufacturing categories did not trade more than a million shares.

As turnover, the NSE benchmark index too declined, going down 29.01 points to stand at 3,177.70, while the All Share Index (NASI) ended 0.06 points lower to stand at 134.82 and the NSE 25 Share Index was down 14.45 points to stand at 3,535.01.

Trading at the bond market remained unchanged at 19 million dollars. Endit