Drop in large stocks prices pulls down Nairobi bourse

Some 10 million shares valued at 3.8 million U.S. dollars were traded at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) Wednesday, down from 23 million worth 5.7 million dollars posted in the previous session, as the bourse was pulled down by drop in prices of large stocks.

Prices of at least nine stocks led by Kenya Airways, Kengen and Cooperative Bank went down by up to 4 percent while five remained unchanged, including Equity Bank, Safaricom and Kenya Commercial Bank.

Foreign participation too declined to stand at 73 percent, down from 84 percent Tuesday, with the investors cutting down both sales and buys.

Safaricom, Kenya's leading telecom, was the day's top mover, trading 3.5 million shares at 0.18 dollars, down from 8 million shares Tuesday.

The NSE, which is also listed at the bourse, was the second top mover, trading 1.7 million shares at 0.13 dollars. Only Safaricom and NSE traded more than a million shares at the bourse.

Equity Bank, East African Breweries and CIC Insurance were the other day's top five traders moving 966,200, 638,500 and 609,900 shares respectively.

In total, the banking sector traded 2 million shares to represent 19 percent of the day's traded volume while the commercial category moved 1.1 million shares, accounting for 11 percent of the day's traded volume.

The NSE 20 Share Index was down 7.09 points to stand at 3,148.48 while the All Share Index (NASI) ended 0.24 points lower to stand at 131.63 and the NSE 25 Share Index dropped 7.30 points to stand at 3,482.38.

The bond market recorded upswing of activity with securities worth 15 million dollars transacted compared to 9.3 million dollars posted the previous session. Endit