Large stocks price gains lift Nairobi bourse index

A rise in the prices of large stocks lifted the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) 20 Share Index 26 points up Thursday as the indicator sustained an upward trend since Wednesday, the first day of trading after Christmas holiday.

Thursday's increase added to the 17 points gain recorded in the previous session, bringing to total points added in the two sessions to 43. The benchmark index had fallen to 3,113.61 at the end of last week as the bear-run continued to hit the market.

Safaricom, Kenya's leading telecom operator, was the biggest mover Thursday, trading 6.1 million shares at 0.18 U.S. dollars, a decline of 1 percent. On Wednesday the stock traded 6.5 million shares, mainly foreign sales.

However, the trading session which was dominated by foreign investors was stifled, with turnover falling marginally to 2.6 million dollars on a volume of 9.4 shares from the same number of shares valued at 2.9 million dollars posted yesterday. Endit