Manufacturers, Safaricom Trade 94% Of NSE Turnover As Banks Tumble

Market turnover at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) fell at the closing bell on August 15, with the manufacturing and telecommunication sectors dominating the day’s activity.

At a combined total of 94%, the two sectors managed to dislodge banks which had constituted the previous day’s highest trading sector.

Safaricom, the sole listed company in the telco sector at the NSE, was the day’s biggest mover with 11.5 million shares valued at Ksh328 million changing hands. Trading as low Ksh27.70 and as high as Ksh28.75, the mobile phone operator’s activity represented 66.59% of the day’s traded value.

The manufacturing sector, on the other hand, had shares worth 135 million traded representing 27.52% of the day’s traded value. Highlight firms of the sector’s NSE performance included British American Tobacco (BAT) Kenya which had 200,000 shares valued at Ksh103 million, and East Africa Breweries Limited (EABL) which took a 0.86% dip to Ksh201.75 and moved 160,000 shares worth Ksh32 million.

On Wednesday, banks had dominated trading at 80% of the day’s traded value, with Equity’s performance particularly boosting the NSE turnover to nearly Ksh1 billion.

The sector’s trading value on the bourse retreated on Thursday, dipping from Ksh803 million to Ksh19 million.

NSE’s turnover for the day stood at Ksh492 million, despite a Ksh993.8 million high at the bourse on Wednesday. The number of shares traded on the spot market stood at 13.9 million as against the 28.9 million that was posted yesterday.

The dip in turnover, however, did not affect the NSE indicators, which all posted positive gains.

• All Share Index NASI was up 1.12 points to stand at 149.74.
• NSE 20 share Index added 1.42 points to stand at 2539.53.
• NSE 25 Share index picked up 8.37 points to settle at 3578.15.

The bonds market meanwhile saw bonds worth Ksh1.4 billion traded.

On the derivatives market, a total of three contracts worth Ksh96,000 were transacted in both Safaricom & Equity contracts.

The single stock futures traded on Thursday are set to expire on September 19.