Investor wealth at NSE hits record Sh1.8trn after technical hitch
A broker monitors stocks at the Nairobi Securities Exchange’s trading floor. A network hitch reduced trading at the bourse to two hours on Tuesday. FILE
What you need to know:
Equity turnover surpassed Sh1 billion to stand at Sh1.28 billion on Wednesday.
The NSE 20 share index continued with its upward trend, closing 25.9 points up at 4830.
Equity turnover surpassed Sh1 billion to stand at Sh1.28 billion, up from the Sh112 million recorded after the Automated Trading System hitch. Analysts attributed the heightened activity to the shortened trading session.
“There was pent up demand which spilled over into Wednesday and generally we saw heavy foreign investor trading,” said Suntra Investments head of research Johnson Nderi.
Safaricom continued to stir the market with 14 million shares changing hands at between Sh8.55 and Sh8.95, ending the day at an all-time closing high of Sh8.75. The stock is edging toward the Sh9 level.
The NSE market cap was boosted by major gains in blue chip counters, with East African Breweries Ltd gaining Sh13 to close at Sh339 per share, while Nation Media Group was up Sh11 to close atSh320 a share.
Uchumi Supermarkets continued to see heavy foreign liquidity moving 6.4 million shares at between Sh19.80 and Sh21.00 to close at Sh19.95. According to traders at the bourse, the counter saw foreign traders buying Sh98 million worth of the stock.
Increased interest in the stock started last year when the retail chain announced a dividend payout of Sh0.3 per share after a 10-year drought. It maintained the same payout this year.
The NSE 20 share index continued with its upward trend, closing 25.9 points up at 4830. The index also gained on Tuesday in spite of the interruption in trading.
The NSE traded only two hours on Tuesday following a technical hitch on the automated trading system that replaced the open outcry system seven years ago.
“The NSE Automated Trading System encountered a serious network error that resulted in a halt in trading from 11.30 am,” said the securities exchange in a press release on Tuesday evening.
Equity turnover fell sharply as a result of the reduced trading, to Sh112 million from Sh569 million recorded on Monday. Stockbrokers, however, reported no downtime in the trading system on Wednesday.
Normally, a breakdown in the network connection between the NSE and stockbrokers back offices would see the brokers move to conduct their trades on the trading floor. But that was before the wide area network system was put in place in 2007.
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