The day was greeted by decreased performance on both indices in the Nairobi Securities Exchange. The points took a beating with the NSE 20-Share Index closing at 4133.28, around 14 points lower than yesterday. The All-share index followed suit having closed at 91.28, down 0.39 points.

HIGHEST VOLUMES

Safaricom Ltd was the top performer today with a record 14.61 Million shares traded. Kenya Power came in second with a whooping 5.67 Million shares changing ownership. Equity Bank dropped 2 spots today to reign in third place, having traded 3.04 Million shares. In fourth place was Kenya Commercial Bank with 1.51 Million shares.

COUNTER WATCH

• Kenya Airways – A total of 69,500 shares were traded over the counter at an average price of KES 12.35. Positive news about increased frequency of flights to Johannesburg was overlapped by that of decreased performance in its second quarter. Coupled with the supposed lockout from Malawi, the news caused decreased demand for the stock and very little reaction from speculators who may have been looking to buy low. The effects may be felt in the next couple of days as the Q2 results are announced to the public.
• British American Tobacco – Another leap for this counter as it closed at KES 469 today. Nothing speaks blue-chip more than this company’s stock. It is edging closer to the KES 500 mark which it may hit by the end of the year. Shareholders through the year have seen this stock increase from KES 204 and have each received dividends of KES 30 per share. It has been quite the juicy counter and stockholders may still gain more.
• Equity Bank – The bank featured in the top 5 performers by volume with a total of 3.04 million shares crossing the counter, an increased from yesterday’s 2 million shares. It maintained an average price of KES 24.25 through the day. Volumes traded are usually in the millions meaning that the counter sees over KES 24 Million each day and a tidy profit off commissions for the brokers.