SAFARICOM SHARES AT ALL-TIME HIGH AS NAIROBI SECURITIES EXCHANGE SOARS TOWARD 5500 (KENYA)

The Nairobi Securities Exchange indicative 20-Share index edged closer to the 5,500 mark buoyed by price rally of blue chips.

The index gained 27.7 points in Thursday’s trading to close at 5473.8 as telecommunication giant Safaricom touched an all-time high and beer maker East African Breweries Limited (EABL) traded at the highest price in the last one year.

“On sustained foreign investor demand, EABL touched a new 52-week high of Sh355. Also keeping up with the momentum, Safaricom touched an all-time high of Sh15.30 mainly buoyed by local investor demand,” said Standard Investment Bank.

The two counters are the largest with Safaricom valued at Sh607 billion and EABL at Sh276 billion.

Safaricom has been spreading its wings beyond the communication sector having won lucrative tenders such as installing the security surveillance system, running electronic fertiliser subsidy management system and it has a stake in the 1963 transit card being introduced in the transport sector.

EABL announced an 11 per cent growth in profit last week to Sh4.6 billion which will see it pay an interim dividend of Sh1.50.

Jubilee Holdings and Standard Chartered Bank were also trading at year highs of Sh540 and Sh350 respectively. Other gainers included Co-operative Bank whose gain was attributed to demand by local investors.

Business Daily, Kenya