Nairobi bourse 20 share index registers biggest gain this week

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) 20 Share Index Thursday recorded its biggest gain this week as prices of various key stocks rose by up to 3 percent.

The index gained 29.3 points to close the day at 3,968.75 as it edged towards the psychological 4,000 mark.

Some of the stocks whose prices went up were Equity Bank (up 2.6 percent), which closed the day at 0.40 U.S. dollars, Britam (up 9 percent) and Uchumi Supermarket (up 2.2 percent).

The surge in share prices also saw the All Share Index (NASI) edge up 0.54 points to stand at 147.41 while the NSE 25 Share Index was up 30.18 points to stand at 4,215.12.

Equity turnover stood at 6 million dollars, with 18 million shares traded against 24 million posted in the previous trading session valued at 7.8 million dollars.

Kenya's leading telecom Safaricom was the biggest mover, trading 8.7 million shares at 0.17 dollars, a marginal decline, up from 5 million the previous day.

The banking sector had 5.8 million shares traded in total, representing 31 percent of the day's traded volume, down from 14.2 million the previous day.

The bond market registered improved activity with bonds worth 28 million dollars transacted, against 4.6 million dollars posted on Wednesday.