Nairobi bourse weekly turnover drops amid falling share prices

Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) week-on-week turnover Friday declined to 19 million U.S. dollars despite a rise in shares traded.

The number of shares traded stood at 134 million against 128 million posted the previous week.

Safaricom traded 36 million shares during the week at an average price of 0.17 dollars, down from 0.18 dollars the previous week.

On Friday, the firm whose shares are a favourite for foreign investors, moved 7 million shares.

The banking sector during the week moved 18 million shares in total, accounting for 13 percent of the week's traded volume.

Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), under the category, touched a high of 0.43 dollars and low of 0.39 dollars on a volume of 7.4 million shares while Equity Group Holdings declined to 0.40 dollars on a volume of 3.6 million shares.

On Friday, KCB moved 1.3 million shares while Equity Group 519 million shares.

The energy and petroleum sector moved 12 million shares during the week, which accounted for 9 percent of the week's traded volume.

KenolKobil, in the category, declined 3.2 percent to trade at 0.10 dollars, moving 6.7 million shares while Ugandan power distributor Umeme Ltd moved 3.3 million shares at 0.17 dollars.

The automobile and accessories was the slowest mover during the week, accounting for 93,000 shares or 0.1 percent of the week's traded volume.

The NSE 20 Share Index closed at 4009.26, which was a rise from the previous trading session's 3,990.20, but overall, it shed a total of 1.56 points during the week.

The All Share Index (NASI) was down 0.42 percent during the week to stand at 146.93 points while the NSE 25 Share Index closed the day at 4.254.86.

The bond market witnessed a surge in trading, with securities totalling 11 million dollars transacted compared to 5 million dollars posted the previous week.