Safaricom sheds Sh28bn as foreign investors sell for profit

Safaricom shed Sh28 billion in value Tuesday closing the day 4.2 per cent lower at Sh15.90 as foreign investors sold the stock on profit taking.

Safaricom’s fall below the Sh16 level for the first time in two weeks means that the company’s valuation at close of NSE trading stood at Sh637 billion, compared to Thursday Sh665 billion when the share price stood at Sh16.60.

READ: Safaricom hits all-time high on demand by local buyers

Equity Bank also saw a decline in share price to close three per cent down at Sh49.50, which combined with Safaricom’s decline helped push the main NSE 20 Share Index lower by 17 points to close at 5179.

“Foreign investors were largely selling Equity, Safaricom, Centum and KenolKobil and buying KCB and Barclays, with their participation at 55 per cent of the day’s turnover,” said a dealer at an investment bank.

The NSE All share index was down by 2.2 points to 171, as market turnover declined to Sh775 million from Thursday’s Sh979 million although the number of shares traded went up from 35 to 36 million.

Although KCB was up 50 cents to Sh61, and EABL up Sh3 to Sh324 among the top counters, the declines in Equity and Safaricom had the effect of pushing market capitalisation at the bourse lower by Sh40 billion to Sh2.38 trillion.

Safaricom and KCB were the top movers in the market, trading 25.3 million and 3.16 million shares respectively.

Safaricom accounted for over half the total traded turnover at the market Tuesday having moved shares worth Sh403 million. With KCB moving shares worth Sh193.3 million, both counters combined to account for 77 per cent of the day’s trade turnover.

The top gainers were drawn from the medium and small cap stocks, led by Total which was up 7.2 per cent at Sh26, and Home Afrika which closed higher by 4.6 per cent at Sh3.40.

The bonds market was upbeat with bonds worth Sh1.82 billion traded in 13 deals, compared to a turnover of Sh1.01 billion realised last Thursday in 11 deals.