Kenya's bourse benchmark index exceeds 2,900 points

Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) 20 Share Index rose 26 points Wednesday to rally past the 2,900 mark as large stocks sustained gains.

The index had hit an eight-year low of 2,789.64 on January 30 before starting to rise steadily to close at a high of 2,908.87 on Wednesday. This means the benchmark index has gained some 119 points since the start of February.

Stockbrokers blamed the decline to a bear-run that had wiped out value of several large stocks that constitute the index, including Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), Equity Bank, Safaricom and East African Breweries Ltd.

Most of the large stocks, however, are now on a recovery path albeit marginally leading to the current rally.

Safaricom, Kenya's leading telecommunication company, was the day's biggest mover Wednesday, trading 17.1 million shares at unchanged price of 0.18 dollars. On Tuesday, the telecom traded 9.8 million shares.

Equity Bank was the day's second best traded stock, exchanging 9.7 million shares at 0.25 dollars, an increase of 3 percent.

Some 44 million shares worth 9 million dollars were traded at the securities market up from 19.3 million shares valued at 5.5 million.

The bond market witnessed improved activity with securities worth 14 million dollars transacted compared to 5 million dollars posted the previous session. Endit