NAIROBI: Telecoms operator Safaricom surged 2.58 percent on Wednesday to lift Kenyan shares higher, while the shilling was flat.
The benchmark NSE-20 share index rose 31.57 points or 0.8 percent to close at 3919.10 points. The index has been edging higher since last week when it touched its lowest level since August 2012.
"It's been led by Safaricom, which has been a positive catalyst for a rebound in some other stocks," said Aly-Khan Satchu, an independent trader.
Shares in Safaricom, the biggest stock on Kenya's bourse by market capitalisation, closed at 15.85 shillings having climbed 10.8 percent since Thursday, when the company announced better-than-expected results for the first six months of the year.
The index was also boosted by investment firm Centum , which saw its shares climb 5.55 percent to 42.75 shillings after the company on Wednesday reported a 75 percent jump in first-half pretax profit.
On the foreign exchange market, the shilling closed at 102.25/35 to the dollar, unchanged from Tuesday's close.
One Nairobi-based trader said the central bank did not intervene in the market on Wednesday after selling dollars for the previous two session, though the threat of potential action was "keeping a tight cap on upward movements".
"That's the main support for the shilling right now," he added.
The shilling, down about 13 percent against the dollar this year, has been under pressure from global dollar strength that has hit many emerging market currencies, as well as from domestic issues, such as the widening trade gap and big budget deficit.
In the debt market, bonds worth 1.18 billion shillings ($11.55 million) were traded, compared with the previous session's 1.43 billion shillings.
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