Telecom, banking stocks keep Nairobi bourse turnover high

Turnover at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) stood at 12 million U.S. dollars Wednesday on a volume of 48 million shares, a slight decline from the previous session's 13 million dollars from 73 million shares.

The high turnover was, however, sustained by the sale of Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and Safaricom shares amid rise in share prices.

Safaricom, Kenya's leading telecom, was the top traded stock after moving 12 million shares at 0.20 dollars. Tuesday, the telecom moved a record 42 million shares at the same price.

KCB, on the other hand, sustained an upward trend trading 11 million shares at 0.36 dollars, a 0.7 percent rise. Tuesday, the bank moved 7.7 million shares.

At number three was Uganda electricity distributor Umeme with 5.1 million shares at 0.15 dollars while KenolKobil came fourth with 5 million shares. Closing the list of the top traded stocks was Mumias Sugar with 4.6 million shares.

Most of the large stocks, however, went up therefore pulling up the NSE 20 Share Index. Standard Chartered Bank, Nation Media Group and East African Breweries are some of the top 20 stocks that went up by between 1 percent and 8 percent.

The index rose 5.24 points Wednesday to end the day at 3,226.43 from 3,221.19 reversing a negative trend. Endit