Shopping mall attack hits Nairobi bourse

All key indices of the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) fell Monday as investors deserted the bourse following the weekend's bloody terror attack at a shopping mall here. NSE analysis indicated the volume of shares traded dropped 50 percent. A total of 14 million shares were traded Monday, half last Friday's trade. The drop led to a decline in equity turnover of 48 percent. Turnover stood at 3.2 million U.S. dollars, down from 6.1 million dollars on Friday, the previous trading day. The NSE 20 share index dropped 0.26 percent Monday, while the NSE All Share Index went down 0.34 percent. Similarly, market capitalisation, which measures shareholders' wealth, dropped marginally to 20 billion US dollars, from 20.1 billion dollars last Friday. However, despite the poor show, analysts said many had expected worse following the terror attack at the Westgate Shopping Mall in which at least 62 people were killed by gunmen. Most of the investors who took part in trading Monday were locals, according to NSE. Foreign investors largely reduced their activities. Of all the categories, the telecommunications sector was the most active Monday, representing 66 percent of the day's trading volume. It was followed by the banking sector, which traded a paltry 2.2 million shares, or 15.8 percent of the day's trading volume. "Barclays Bank moved 651,000 shares and closed at 0.20 dollars, EquityBank and Kenya Commercial Bank traded 416,700 shares each, with the former closing the day at 0.39 dollars and the later at 0.51 dollars," the NSE said. The energy and petroleum sector traded 720,000 shares, or 5.06 percent of the day's trading volume. Activities at the bond market also declined significantly, with trading down 29 percent. On Monday, the bond market transacted bonds worth 5.8 million dollars, down from 8 million dollars last Friday.