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

• NIC Bank Rights – The Rights were top gainers at the stock market for a second day on Friday after climbing 20 percent to KES 9.95 from KES 8.25 on Thursday. Friday was the last day for NIC shareholders to either take up their rights or sell them to other investors on the stock market. The rights are set to trade until Friday and we will maintain watch on them to see how they perform.

• Kakuzi – The agricultural firm posted a 21 percent drop in profit after tax on Friday to 103.3 million shillings owing to the sale of its tea growing subsidiary, Siret Tea Company Ltd (STCL). The share has been trading between KES 75 and KES 80 for most of the year with periodic drops such as late last month to KES 68 when the sale of STCL was made public. We will watch to see how the share reacts to Friday’s earnings announcement.

• Mumias Sugar – Mumias last week posted a 33 percent drop in half-year pre-tax earnings to 1.8 billion shillings, missing analyst targets by more than 40 percent. Over the last two months the shares gained to trade above 6.5 shillings from below 5.5 shillings in the first quarter. Towards the end of August they however dropped below the KES 6.5 mark where they have been on a steady decline to last week’s close of KES 6.35. We will watch the shares today in light of Friday’s earnings announcement to see how they perform.

• Olympia Capital Holdings – News that tow top shareholders with a combined stake of 21.2 percent have quit their board positions could affect the share which rallied last week on news of Olympia’s Botswana expansion plans (Business Daily). The share rallied 9.23 percent to KES 3.55 on Thursday last week to become the top gainer at the NSE. It closed the week at KES 3.55. We will watch the share  today to see how the directorship changes affect its performance.