Safaricom lifts Nairobi bourse on 1st trading day of 2017

Share trading at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) rose on the first day of business this year to 17.5 million valued at 3.62 million U.S. dollars, against 10 million shares worth 3.5 million dollars in the previous session.

Safaricom, Kenya's leading telecom operator, was the top mover as it traded 10.1 million shares at 0.19 dollars, a decline of 0.5 percent.

Stockbrokers noted the counter recorded a surge in trading following the news that it will receive over 74 million dollars from the government for security work it did.

Equity Bank was the second day's mover as it traded 2 million shares at unchanged price of 0.20 dollars followed by Kenya Commercial Bank with 1.6 million shares 0.28 dollars, a rise of 0.8 percent. In total, the banking sector had 3.8 million shares traded representing 22 percent of the day's traded volume.

The insurance sector moved 1.6 million shares that accounted for 9 percent of the day's traded volume. Liberty Kenya was the most actively traded counter in the sector with 1.3 million shares at between 0.13 dollars.

The energy sector saw 1.6 million shares exchange hands, with KenolKobil trading 1.5 million of the total traded at a high of 0.15 dollars.

The NSE 20 Share Index sustained its momentum from last year, gaining 20 points to stand at 3,206.24.

On the other hand, the All Share Index (NASI) shed 0.73 points to settle at 132.61 due to increased foreign investor outflows and the NSE 25 Share Index was down 17.29 points to stand at 3,512.78. Endit