At today’s NSE trading, we will be closely observing the following share counters:

• Bamburi Cement Ltd – Kenya’s foremost cement manufacturer yesterday closed at its highest price since August last year, gaining 3.03 percent to reach Ksh 175 from Ksh 165 on Tuesday. The share’s gain was on speculation that half-year earnings will be good, a Bloomberg report yesterday said
• Housing Finance Co. – The quarterly Hass Consult Hass Property Index released yesterday showed that house asking prices were this year up 1.9 percent from last year despite the higher mortgage rates in the same period. Housing Finance is the leading mortgage financed institution in Kenya and at last year’s end reported a 75 percent increase in pre-tax profit to Ksh 975.55 million up from Ksh 560.2 million in 2010 according to the mortgage lender’s audited financial statements and disclosures for the year ended 2011. The share closed yesterday up 3 percent at Ksh 15.45 from Ksh 15.00 on Tuesday.
• CFC Stanbic Holdings – CFC Stanbic Bank, a subsidiary of CFC Stanbic Holdings has pledged to reduce the interest rate on it loans from 24 percent to 22.5 percent from August 11^th this year making it the third bank to do so since the Central Bank of Kenya reduced the base lending rate to 16.5 percent from 18 percent last week. The share closed yesterday at Ksh 45.25 with no change since Tuesday.
• Co-operative Bank of Kenya – The share gained for a third consecutive day yesterday, rising 1.32 percent to close at Ksh 11.55 from Ksh 11.40 yesterday. It has also been among the top counters traded over the last three days trading 2.5million shares yesterday and topping the counters on Monday at 2.22 million shares.