Safaricom rebounds to boost Nairobi bourse turnover

Kenya's top telecom operator Safaricom recovered Tuesday to trade 12.4 million shares at a high of 0.19 U.S. dollars, boosting turnover at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) to 9.7 million dollars on a volume of 24 million shares.

The telecom operator on Monday recorded its worst daily trading in years by moving a paltry 974,900 shares as the bourse traded some 17 million shares worth 5.8 million dollars.

Insurance firm KenRe was the day's second top trader, moving 3.8 million shares at 0.23 dollars while power generator Kengen and East African Breweries Ltd came in third and fourth respectively with 2.5 million and 2.4 million shares respectively.

Foreign investors were net buyers during the session, raising buys by 68 percent as sales too increased by 58 percent. The investors mainly went for East African Breweries Ltd, Safaricom and BAT.

The NSE 20 Share Index dropped 32.3 points to settle at 2,873.02, hitting a new low as the bear-run that has eroded top large stocks at the market persisted.

The All Share Index (NASI), on the other hand, shed 0.77 points to settle at 123.29 while the NSE 25 Share Index was down 28.86 points to stand at 3,199.74.

The bond market had securities worth 16 million dollars transacted compared to 24 million dollars posted the previous session. Endit