Kenya's bourse turnover, key index plunge before holiday

NAIROBI, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) began the week lower on Monday as both turnover and benchmark index plummeted ahead of Kenya's Independence Day celebrations on Tuesday.

Turnover declined to 3.6 million U.S. dollars on a volume of 13.3 million shares from 5.4 million dollars Friday on 21 million shares.

The NSE 20 Share Index, similarly, dropped 18.74 points to close at 3,731.79 points from 3,750.53 in the previous session as selected large stocks went down. The trend was a continuation from Friday where it declined 1.64 points.

The NSE All share Index (NASI), on the other hand, was up 0.73 points to close at 176.00 from 175.27 points on Friday, with the indicator showing upward movement.

Mobile operator, Safaricom, Equity Bank, Scangroup, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and East African Breweries Ltd (EABL) accounted for 89 percent of the total turnover.

The most traded counters were, however, Safaricom, Equity, Scangroup, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and House Afrika moving 5.9 million, 2.3 million, 2.2 million, 400,000 and 300,000 shares respectively.

Foreign participation during the session rose to 73 percent from 59 percent in the last session and local participation stood at 27 percent. The foreigners mainly traded Safaricom, Equity Bank and Scangroup.

At the bond market, turnover went down to 9 million dollars from 13 million dollars in the previous session. Enditem