Telecommunications giant Safaricom touched a new all-time high of Sh16.10 in intra-day trading on a volume of 6.6 million shares on the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).
Analysts at Standard Investment Bank (SIB) attributed the increase in local investor demand.
However, the blue chips as represented by the 20-Share Index lost about 11 points to stand at 5254.60 points even as the turnover rose to Sh770 million. On Monday, turnover stood at Sh562 million.
“Safaricom touched an all-time high of Sh16.10 and a low of Sh15.95 on a volume of 6.6 million shares,” the NSE said in a statement.
Among the biggest gainers in the trading Tuesday were Standard Chartered Bank that was up 4.53 per cent to Sh346 a share and Total Kenya that was up 3.92 per cent to Sh26.50.
The top losers included Eveready East Africa, down 6.33 per cent to Sh3.70, and KenolKobil that fell 4.1 per cent to Sh9.35.
SIB said that the improved overall turnover was due to large caps, with local investors dominating.
“Equity turnover improved 37.1 per cent on increased volumes traded in large caps. Local investors dominated trading with participation standing at 55.5 per cent,” said SIB.
The banking sector was the most active with 7.6 million traded, making about 30.77 per cent of the day’s traded volume. Equity Bank was the most heavily traded counter in this sector, with 3.5 million shares changing hands at between Sh49 and Sh50.
