Kenyan shares, shilling gain after Fed delays taper

By Duncan Miriri and George Obulutsa NAIROBI (Reuters) - The Kenyan shilling gained 0.2 percent and the benchmark share index rose 0.4 percent on Thursday after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would delay tapering its asset-buying programme. The Fed stunned markets with the announcement it needed more evidence of economic growth, boosting emerging markets assets. On the Nairobi bourse, Safaricom, east Africa's biggest telecoms firm, hit a record high of 8.45 shillings per share before shedding some of the gains, leaving the stock up 1.8 percent on the day at 8.35 shillings. The most traded stock of the day, it hauled the benchmark NSE-20 Share Index up 0.36 percent to 4,745.47 points. Traders forecast strong first-half earnings from the company after it posted record profits in its financial year ended in March. "Safaricom has surprised the market, continued maintaining that momentum. The majority of its buying activity is done by foreigners," said Sterling Investment Bank analyst Moses Waireri. On the foreign exchange market, traders said the shilling had strengthened to 87.35/45 to the dollar at the market close from Wednesday's 87.50/60. Traders said that there was greenback demand from the energy sector, but not enough to offset the gains spurred by the Fed's decision.