Investors count losses at bourse

The Nairobi Securities Exchange top 20 stocks lost value for the fourth consecutive day yesterday as the market reacted to the country’s worsening political impasse.

Investors’ fortunes on the bourse shrank, with the market shredding paper wealth worth Sh28.3 billion in four days of trading. The NSE 20-share index, a benchmark of top 20 best stocks, was down 4.66 points to stand at 3640.14 on a day that saw 12 million shares valued at Sh259 million traded. This was the fourth fall in a row from Monday when it stood at 3,712.37 points.

Equity turnover posted yesterday was a drop of 68 per cent from Wednesday’s Sh809 million that was traded even as the number of shares that changed hands also dropped from 20 million.

Foreign participation also dipped. Foreign investors cut their participation, buying shares worth Sh187 million compared to Wednesday’s Sh686 million.

Companies where foreign activities were concentrated included Safaricom, Athi River Mining, Stanbic Bank, KCB, and TPS Eastern Africa.

Safaricom, which has the highest capitalisation on the bourse, had six million shares valued at 153 million transacted.