Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) 20 Share Index on Thursday fell below the psychological 3,600 mark for the first time in two weeks.

The index declined 12.65 points on Thursday to end at 3,596.56 from 3,609.21 in the previous session as it sustained a downward spiral after peaking at 3,623.83 last week.

The drop was attributed to fall in prices of various large stocks eroding gains the bourse had made in building investors' wealth.

Similarly, the NSE All share Index (NASI) was down 1.10 points to close at 153.22 points as it also maintained a downward trend.

Equity turnover at the bourse, however, went up 257 percent to clock 7.5 million U.S. dollars on a volume of 24 million shares from 12 million shares worth 2.1 million dollars.

The most traded counters were Safaricom, Equity Bank, Kengen, Liberty and Kenol, moving 9.2 million, 4.2 million, 3.3 million, 1 million and 800,000 shares respectively.

However, British America Tobacco, Safaricom and Equity Bank accounted for over half of the session's total turnover after moving shares worth 2.6 million dollars, 2.2 million dollars and 1.6 million dollars respectively.

Foreign participation stood at 73 percent, up from 40 percent Wednesday as the investors raised buys by 599 percent and sales 494 percent.

Bond turnover at the secondary market declined significantly to 25 million dollars from 39 million dollars in the previous session.