A worrying performance today at the Nairobi Securities Exchange as general movement showed loss of portfolio value for the All-share index. The index closed at 92.36 points, a drop from yesterday’s points by 0.26. Local investors on the general lost a few shillings on most of the stocks. The 20-share index however, performed better to close at 4157.59 points, up 0.74 points from yesterday. This spells good news only for those whose portfolio included companies with a large market capitalization, enough for listing in the 20-share index.

HIGHEST VOLUMES

Safaricom was the highest performer for the second day in a row with a total of 12.29 million shares changing hands. Uchumi Supermarket took second place with 2.07 million shares trading over the counter. Barclays Bank of Kenya beat other financial institutions to trade 1.50 million shares, giving it the third spot. Right behind them (at fourth place) was Equity bank with 985,000 shares changing ownership.

COUNTER WATCH

• Eaagads – For the first time in a few days, the counter did not feature amongst the top losers of the day. This did not however, save it from continuing its downward spiral. The counter lost 25 cents to close at KES 24.50. Unlike the previous days however, today saw a mass dump of shares with 2,200 shares changing hands. There were as many sold as there were bought, meaning that local shareholders are still taking up the stocks.
• Standard Chartered – The stock closed at KES 233, a slight increase by KES 2 from yesterday’s close. Volumes traded however, decreased to 2,900 from Tuesday’s 3,300. This could be a reaction from the local shareholders who took part in the rights issue which was oversubscribed by 58.4%. The bank has raised KES 5 billion more than they targeted. This is the second time the bank has had a rights issue with the first one being in 2010.