Nairobi bourse 20 Share Index loses 40 points to hit two-month low

The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) 20 Share Index hit a two-month low on Tuesday after losing over 40 points to close the day at 3,866.97 as share prices of key stocks dropped.

The last time the index, which measures stocks of 20 top performing companies, dropped to such a low was at the end of February, before it started rising to hit a high of 4,054.39 early April.

Among the stocks whose prices went down or remained flat are those in the banking, agricultural, commercial and energy sectors.

Equity Bank, which announced a 50 million U.S. dollars profit last week, lost 1.3 percent of its share price Tuesday to close the day at 0.39 dollars.

NIC Bank, another top mover, lost 2 percent of its share price to stand at 0.37 dollars while leading telecom Safaricom, which announced a profit of 380 million dollars last week, went down 1.2 percent to end the day at a low of 0.17 dollars.

Some 13 million shares valued at 2.3 million dollars were traded, a new low since the beginning of the year, down from 12 million shares valued at 2.6 million dollars posted in the previous trading session.

Safaricom, under the telecommunication sector, moved 4.5 million shares up from 3.3 million shares Monday as investors started to trade the stock after holding it in anticipation of a price rise.

The banking sector had 4.6 million shares traded with Co-op Bank being the most heavily traded counter in this sector, moving 2.8 million shares at between 0.18 dollars and 0.20 dollars.

The manufacturing and allied sector moved 1.5 million shares, the energy and petroleum 667,000 while commercial and services 927,000.

The All Share Index (NASI) edged a point lower to settle at 145.31 while the NSE 25 Share Index was down 25.28 points to stand at 4,179.98. Bonds worth 178 million dollars were traded, up from 110 million Monday.