Blue chip counters KCB, Safaricom, BAT and EABL dominated trading Wednesday at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) accounting for 80% of total market turnover, as foreign investors continued calling the shots.
With KCB, BAT and EABL recording share price declines, the NSE 20 share index registered a slide for the second straight session, closing 17.45 points lower at 4464. Total market turnover stood at Ksh594.3 million compared to Ksh520 million on Tuesday.
Safaricom bucked the trend, however, to register a gain of one per cent to close the day at Sh15 a share. “On increased foreign investor trading, KCB was the leading mover accounting for 26 per cent of total activity.
Declining for the sixth straight session, the bank was down 1.1 per cent (to Ksh46.50) on sustained foreign investor selling. After gaining 7.4 per cent in the previous session, BAT retreated 3.3 per cent to Ksh857 to emerge the worst performing among the top movers,” said Standard Investment Bank (SIB) in a market report.
EABL on its part shed Ksh4 or 1.3 per cent to close the day at Ksh301 a share, moving 291,900 shares worth Ksh87.8 million. Foreign investor participation stood at 81.2 per cent compared to 50.2 per cent in Tuesday’s session, with almost all of their activity concentrated on the four top movers and Kenya Airways — which moved 7.4 million shares worth Sh45 million with a modest gain of 10 cents to Kshh6.10.
The biggest movement in share prices in relative terms was, however, seen among the medium and small chip counters. The day’s top gainers in percentage terms were Marshalls, up 5.5 per cent to Ksh12.50, Eaagads, up 3.9 per cent to Ksh33 and Unga Limited, which closed 3.6 per cent higher at Sh43.50.
On the other end of the scale, Atlas Development led with a decline of 9.2 per cent to Sh7.85, followed by Total Kenya which shed 8.3 per cent to Ksh22 and TPS Eastern Africa which lost 7.2 per cent to close at Ksh32.25.
