Foreign trading lifts Nairobi bourse stocks, key index

Kenya's telecom operator Safaricom on Tuesday dominated trading at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), accounting for 56 percent of market turnover on account of foreigners' block trading.

The trading helped lift the NSE 20 Share Index up 10 points to stand at 3,109.01 from 3,082.85 as several large stocks reported gains.

Similarly, the All Share Index (NASI) ended 0.10 points higher to stand at 131.52 and the NSE 25 Share Index was up 9.03 points to stand at 3,468.92.

Safaricom traded 15 million shares at 0.18 U.S. dollars from 13.3 million at the same price on Monday.

Foreign investors' participation stood at 63.2 percent from Monday's 80 percent, accounting for 62 percent of total buying and 65 percent of total selling.

Equity Bank recorded the highest net foreign inflows as it gained 2.5 percent to close at a new high of 0.31 dollars.

NIC Bank, on the other hand, recorded the highest net foreign outflows on account of block foreign selling as it gained 1 percent to stand at 0.24 dollars.

Kenya Commercial Bank notably notched higher by 1.6 percent to 0.33 dollars following net foreign buying on the counter.

The bond market recorded improved activity with bonds worth 40 million dollars transacted against 9.9 million dollars posted the previous session. Endit