Low foreign buys push down Nairobi bourse

Equity turnover at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) dropped Tuesday as the bourse began the week on a low pushed down by declined foreign buys.

A total of 19 million shares worth 4.5 million U.S. dollars were traded down from 20 million valued at 6.5 million dollars.

During the Tuesday session, foreign investors' participation stood at 52 percent, an improvement from 48 percent last Friday.

However, despite the rise, the foreigners marginally cut their sales even as they maintained low buying of Safaricom, Diamond Trust Bank and Equity Bank.

Safaricom, Kenya's leading telecom, was the day's biggest mover trading 7.2 million shares at 0.19 dollars, a rise of 1.3 percent.

Following at a distance was KenolKobil, which traded 3.8 million shares at a declined price of 0.12 dollars while Britam came third with 1.8 million shares.

Kenya Commercial Bank and electricity generator Umeme came fourth and fifth respectively with 1.4 million and 1.3 million shares respectively.

The NSE 20 Share Index dropped to 3,139.03 from 3,157.58 while the NSE All Share Index ended the day at 134 from 133.28 in the previous session.

The bond market had securities worth 22 million dollars transacted, a rise from 17 million dollars posted in the previous session. Endit