Mixed performance was observed in Thursday’s trading session as the bourse registered a higher number of decliners as compared to the trading on Wednesday.
The NSE-20 share lost a marginal 0.15 percent to settle at 3242.32 points while the NASI garnered 0.09 percent to close at 137.15 points at the end of today’s session. The NSE 25 Share Index followed suit, advancing by 0.08 percent to perch at 3630.42 points.
Shareholders’ wealth followed suit, expanding by a marginal 0.09 percent to close at 1.986 trillion shillings. Equity turnover on the other hand, trended south, declining by 46.00 percent to close at 0.297 billion shillings. The A/D ratio closed at 0.89x from 1.36x, indicating a slight decline.
Longhorn Publishers Ltd (NSE:LKL), one of the country’s leading publishing houses, has unveiled a new e-learning platform and a digital bookstore which will see the publisher shift its content to digital platforms.
This move is meant to position the company strategically after the Jubilee government commenced the digital literacy program in March 2016. The program’s main aim is to equip 1.2 million primary school learners with digital devices.
The publisher spent 100 million shillings on the digitization program with an aim of reversing the shrinking revenues posted in the FY15 results. The share price was up 3.85 percent to close the day at 5.40 shillings.
The table below shows the Equity Market Highlights
| PREVIOUS | THURSDAY | % CHANGE | |
| Market Cap (Kes.Bn) | 1,985.13 | 1,985.91 | 0.09 |
| Equity T/O (Kes.Mn) | 550.34 | 297.17 | -46.00 |
| Local/Foreign Equity T/O | 34;66 | 59;41 | |
| Advance; Decline Ratio | 19;18 | 16;18 |
The table below shows how NASI, NSE 20 and 25 performed on Thursday
| INDEX | PREVIOUS | TODAY | % CHANGE |
| NASI | 137.03 | 137.15 | 0.09 |
| NSE 20 SHARE | 3424.11 | 3242.32 | -0.15 |
| NSE 25 SHARE | 3627.43 | 3630.42 | 0.08 |
Safaricom Ltd (NSE: SCOM) was the most actively traded stock today accounting for 42.99 percent of the total market value traded activity. ARM Cement Ltd (NSE: ARM) was the second most actively traded counter, accounting for 19.11 percent of the total market turnover.
The table below shows the most actively traded in shares:
| EQUITY | VALUE TRADED |
| Safaricom Ltd Ord 0.05 | 127,759,800.00 |
| ARM Cement Ltd Ord 1.00 | 56,777,500.00 |
| NIC Bank Ltd Ord 5.00 | 26,977,375.00 |
| East African Breweries Ltd Ord 2.00 | 15,763,500.00 |
| I&M Holdings Ltd Ord 1.00 | 9,379,600.00 |
E.A. Portland Cement Ltd (NSE: PORT) took the summit of the gainers chart with a 9.80 percent gain to close the day at 28.00 shillings. Atlas African Industries Ltd followed remotely posting a 5.00 percent improvement to close at 1.05 shillings.
The table below shows the gaining stocks on Thursday
| EQUITY | PRICE (KES) | % CHANGE |
| E.A Portland Cement Co. Ltd Ord 5.00 | 28.00 | 9.80 |
| Atlas African Industries LtdGEMS | 1.05 | 5.00 |
| Kenya Airways Ltd Ord | 4.35 | 4.82 |
| Longhorn Publishers Ltd Ord 1.00 AIMS | 5.40 | 3.85 |
| NIC Bank Ltd Ord 5.00 | 26.75 | 2.88 |
Trans-Century Ltd (NSE: TCL) emerged as the top lagging stock of the day plunging by 9.70 percent to close at 7.45 shillings. Eveready E.A Ltd (NSE: EVRD) shed off 7.69 percent from its previous closing price to close at 2.40 shillings.
The table below shows the lagging stocks on Thursday
| EQUITY | PRICE (KES) | % CHANGE |
| Trans-Century Ltd Ord 0.50 AIMS | 7.45 | -9.70 |
| Eveready East Africa Ltd Ord 1.00 | 2.40 | -7.69 |
| STANLIB FAHARI I-REIT Ord 20.00 | 13.00 | -5.80 |
| B.O.C Kenya Ltd Ord 5.00 | 90.00 | -5.26 |
| TPS Eastern Africa Ord 1.00 | 18.85 | -4.80 |
The foreign investors accounted for 40.78 percent of total turnover against 59.22 percent of local participation. Distributive activities took center-stage, resulting in net outflows worth 81.30 million shillings relative to net outflows worth 34.78 million shillings on Tuesday.
Safaricom Limited (NSE: SCOM) which recorded a turnover of 65.61 million shillings representing 22.05 percent of total activity and 54.09 percent of foreign investor activity, was the day’s heavily traded stock by foreigners, followed by Athi River Mining (NSE: ARM) recording a turnover of 28.27 percent to account for 9.50 percent of total market activity and 23.31 percent of foreign investor activity.
Equity Group Holdings Limited (NSE: EQTY) posted the day’s highest net inflows worth 2.18 million shillings and the day’s highest net outflows, worth 47.61 million shillings, were posted by Safaricom Limited (NSE: SCOM).
Read: Longhorn Share Price Gains 4% Following its Schools Digital Plan