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

• Standard Group – The media conglomerate yesterday closed at its highest in almost one year, gaining 8 percent to close at Ksh 27 from Ksh 25 on Wednesday. The share has ranged between Ksh 21 and Ksh 35 for the past year hitting a low of Ksh 18.64 in April this year, data from Bloomberg shows.
• Kenya Commercial Bank – Last year’s top ranking Kenyan bank is alleged to have overstated its earnings for 2011 by 19 percent through adjustments of International Accounting Standards (IAS) according to a newly released report by Citibank, the Business Daily reports. The bank’s profit before tax increased 22 percent last year from 2010 reaching Ksh 14.08 billion from Ksh 11.54 billion in 2010 while its shares gained 1.08 percent yesterday to close at this year’s high of Ksh 23.50 for a second time.
• Standard Chartered Bank – The bank has announced that it will cut its base lending rate by 1.5 percent to 21.5 percent (Business Daily) becoming the fifth bank to do so after Barclays Bank, Bank of Baroda, CFC Stanbic Bank and Commercial Bank of Africa. Standard Chartered shares yesterday closed at Ksh 195 similar to Wednesday.
• Bamburi Cement – For a second day, Kenya’s foremost cement manufacturer yesterday closed to reach a nearly one year high of Ksh 176 due to investor demand for the shares, Pesatalk reported yesterday. Bamburi has recently made investments in Uganda which are expected to boost the company’s revenues. In addition, investors expect that the company’s half-year earnings will be good due to higher demand for cement from government infrastructure projects that have been underway.