NAIROBI, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) on Monday traded 17 million shares valued at 3.1 million U.S. dollars, down from 24 million shares worth 6.7 million dollars posted in the previous session, pushed down by a drop in trading of Safaricom.
Safaricom, Kenya's leading telecom operator, traded a paltry 634,100 shares at unchanged price of 0.18 dollars.
This was the second time in a week that the stock was trading less than a million shares in years, having moved 974,900 shares on Jan 23.
Stock brokers attributed the performance to investors, especially foreign ones, keeping off so that the price tumbles as they seek to buy. The NSE is currently a buyers' market as prices of various stocks go down.
Banks shares were the most traded, with the sector's turnover standing at 2.3 million dollars to account for 81 percent of the day's traded value.
Equity Bank was the day's biggest mover with 5.3 million shares valued at 1.2 million dollars changing hands at 0.23 dollars. On the other hand, Kenya Commercial Bank moved 4.4 million shares at 0.22 dollars while Cooperative Bank traded 1 million shares valued 0.11 dollars.
The NSE and Mumias Sugar were the other top traders, moving 1.9 million and 1.6 million shares valued at 0.11 dollars and 0.01 dollars.
The NSE 20 Share Index dropped 22.40 points to settle at 2,789.64, while the All Share Index (NASI) shed 1.02 points to settle at 121.26 and the NSE 25 Share Index was down 31.05 points to stand at 3,106.57.
