NAIROBI, March 17 (Xinhua) -- Investors' wealth at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) rose by over 1 percent this week following a rally in prices of stocks.
Market capitalization, which measures shareholders' wealth, went up from 26.6 billion U.S. dollars on Monday to close at 27 billion dollars on Friday, show data from the market showed Saturday.
The 4 billion dollars gain is one of the biggest in recent weeks as share prices of various large stocks rose. On Friday, according to the NSE, market capitalization gained by 1.7 billion dollars.
Some of the stocks whose prices have surged include Safaricom, CFC Stanbic, KenolKobil, British American Tobacco, Kenya Commercial Bank, British American Tobacco and Equity Bank, which all closed high on Friday growing by between 0.5 percent and 10 percent.
Analysts noted that a number of stocks have recorded double-digit gains boosted by political stability following talks between President Uhuru Kenyatta and his rival in last year's polls Raila Odinga. The talks have restores investor confidence.
Trading in the last week has mainly been dominated by local investors, with the foreigners who had exited the market after taking profit, returning to the bourse.
Investors' wealth fell to less than 20 billion dollars in mid-2016 as trading at the bourse hit the lowest level, but has been on a climb albeit slowly to reach the new high.
Market capitalization is expected to sustain an upward climb, according to stock brokers.
