Here are the shares we will be closely watching in today’s trading at the Nairobi Securities Exchange:

• Express Kenya Ltd – Standard Investment Bank has predicted that Express could be preparing to be taken over based on the proposed pricing of new company shares to be introduced in a planned rights issue. (Business Daily). Company documents say the new shares will be priced at KES 5 which is 38 percent higher than existing shares, and existing shareholders will get 1 new share for every 6 they already own. If this is the case then existing shareholders stand to benefit by getting free premium priced shares. This could raise demand for Express Kenya shares which have been trading at their lowest price range of the year below KES 4 per share this month. In light of this we will keep a close eye on the shares this week.

• Nation Media Group – Today we will keep close watch on Nation Media shares which closed Friday at a new high of KES 188 last seen in 2009. The shares have been on a rally since the media company reported a 23 percent rise in pre-tax profit to 1.37 billion shillings for the six months to June this year.

• Rea Vipingo Plantations - The shares have been trading high this month, going above KES 17 and remaining above KES 16 per share compared to range below KES 16 per share for the better part of this year. They closed Friday having gained 1.19 percent to KES 17 per share. We will watch them today to see if they go beyond this year’s high of  KES 17.20