Safaricom traded a record 106.2 million shares on Thursday as the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) recorded its best trading day since January.
Turnover hit Sh2.73 billion (US$27 million) on a volume of 130 million shares, up from 18 million valued at Sh354 million (US$3.5 million) posted on Wednesday.
Before Thursday’s trading, the biggest trading day at Nairobi bourse this year had been September 1, where some 95 million shares worth Sh2 billion (US$20 million) were traded.
Safaricom, which mainly attracted foreign inflows Thursday, traded at a high of Sh20.24 (US$0.20), a 0.5-percent increase, to account for 82 percent of the day’s traded volume.
Equity Bank was the second top mover, trading 17 million shares at Sh27.32 (US$0.27), a two-percent increase.
The banking sector had 19 million shares traded in total to represent 15 percent of the day’s traded volume as Kenya Commercial Bank, under the category, moved 1.6 million shares at Sh26.31 (US$0.26).
The manufacturing sector was the third top category, moving some 1 million shares with Mumias Sugar trading 640,000 shares at a low of Sh1.10 (US$0.01) and East African Breweries rising to Sh273.25 (US$2.7) on a volume of 377,000 shares.
Despite the robust trading, the NSE 20 Share Index was down 0.58 points to stand at 3,169.64. On the other hand, the All Share Index (NASI) ended 0.60 points higher to stand at 133.45 while the NSE 25 Share Index was up 22.83 points to settle at 3,517.19.
The bond market recorded declined activity, moving securities worth Sh293 million (US$2.9 million) from 9.5 dollars the previous day. (Xinhua)