Key indices of the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) edged up Wednesday as several stocks led by those in the banking sector saw their prices rise following a week of decline.

The NSE 20 Share Index gained 62.01 points to stand at 3,178.83 while the All Share Index ended 1.62 points higher to stand at 134.94. On the other hand, the NSE 25 Share Index was up 94.96 points to stand at 3519.32.

Market capitalization, which measures investors' wealth, went up to slightly above 19 billion U.S. dollars after declining to 18 billion dollars.

Kenya's leading telecom, Safaricom, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB), Equity Bank and Cooperative Bank are some of the stocks in the 20 share index which went up.

Safaricom rose 0.3 percent to move 12 million shares at 0.20 dollars, a marginal decline from 12.4 million shares.

The banking sector moved 43.5 million shares in total that represented 71 percent of the day's traded volume.

KCB Group was the day's biggest mover, with 24 million shares at a high of 0.28 dollars after going up 9 percent, while Equity Bank closed 8 percent higher at 0.27 dollars on a volume of 10 million shares.

Some 61 million shares valued at 17 million dollars were traded in total, down from 69 million shares worth 18 million dollars posted Tuesday.

The bond market saw trading go down to 17 million dollars from 18 million dollars posted in the previous session.

Source : XINHUA