INDICES

The NSE 20 Share Index today marginally dropped to 3,950.90 points from 3,950.97 points yesterday while  he All Share Index dropped 0.24 percent to 86.22 points from 86.43 points yesterday.

[caption id="attachment_21339" align="aligncenter" width="427"] Source: FILE[/caption]

HIGHEST VOLUMES

Safaricom shares were for a second day the most traded shares at the stock market with 5.83 million shares traded down from 11.89 million shares yesterday while second were CIC Insurance with 5.33 million shares. Equity Bank were the third most traded shares with 2.74 million shares and fourth were KCB for a second day with 1.99 million shares from  861,00 shares yesterday.

COUNTER WATCH

• Safaricom – The share closed at KES 4.00 similar to yesterday on the day that the board of the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) is expected to lower the Mobile Termination Rates (MTR) – the rates mobile operators charge each other for handling rival network calls – to either KES 1.44 or KES 1.60 from the current KES 2.21 (Business Daily). Safaricom has been against the Mobile Rate cut as it will reduce what rival networks pay them, as most mobile phone calls originate from Safaricom who have a 65 percent market share. Today’s closing price is at the share’s highest range since January 2011.

• Centum Investments – On the day the investment firm announced that it had raised 3.2 billion shillings through Kenya’s largest private bond issue, the shares gained 0.85 percent to close at KES 11.90 which is within the share’s 2 week trading range around KES 12.