British-American Investments Company Limited - BRITAM - (BRIT) was the biggest mover today mostly on account of the situation in Mauritius. The government of Maurtius took over British American Investments Mauritius (BAI Mauritius) over alleged involvement in Ponzi scheme like operations. BAI Mauritius has a 23% ownership stake in Britam Kenya and its owner Dawood Rawat was up until 22nd April, 2015 a director of Britam Kenya.

The Mauritius government is contemplating selling assets owned by BAI Mauritius including its shares in Britam Kenya to compensate investors who lost out in the BAI ponzi scheme operations.

Whereas Britam Kenya was not involved in the BAI Mauritius scam and as such does not face any related exposure on its financial and operational fundamentals, speculation by investors on the future sale of Britam shares by the government of Mauritius may have triggered some of them to start selling their Britam shares early. "The situation in Mauritius has probably caused supply side speculation with regard to Britam shares in Kenya", said Silha Rasugu a Research Analyst at Genghis Capital. "Britam's fundamentals remain unaffected, and the current volatility in the stock is expected to reduce as more information on the BAI Mauritius saga comes to light"

Sameer Africa Limited made a turnaround from being the worst performing share from the previous day to the best performing share by close of market today. Sameer Africa Limited ended the day at KES 5.70 having gained 7.55% (KES 0.40) in its share price.

Standard Group Limited closed the day as the worst performing share in the exchange. The counter registered a drop of 10.00% by the close of market today. This was a KES 3.50 loss in its share price.

The winners:

The other top gainers were: Liberty Kenya Holdings Limited (CFCI), I&M Bank (I&M), Centum Investment Company Limited (ICDC) and Kenya Electricity General Company (KEGN). They each closed at KES 24.50, 124.00, 63.00 and 10.10 respectively.

 The losers:

The counters that shed the most value were: Standard Group Limited (SGL), Flame Tree Group Holdings Limited (FTGH), Eveready East Africa Limited (EVRD), National Bank Of Kenya Limited (NBK) and Olympia Capital Holdings Ltd. They ended the day at KES 31.50, 9.00, 4.10, 21.75 and 5.25 respectively.

Most shares traded:

These were: British American Investments (BRIT), Safaricom Limited (SCOM), Mumias Sugar Company Limited (MSC), Uchumi Supermarkets Limited (UCHM) and Equity Bank Limited (EQTY).

Indices

Both the NSE All Share Index and NSE 20 Share Index declined today. They dropped by 0.56% and 0.03% respectively.