Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) benchmark index sustained upward trend Thursday but turnover declined on low foreigners input.

The NSE 20 Share Index gained 17 points or 0.5 percent to close at 3,776.83, but this marked a drop from Wednesday's gain of 30 points and Tuesday's 55 points.

Market turnover declined by 22 percent to 9.7 million U.S. dollars on a volume of 38 million shares, from 37 million shares on Wednesday worth 12 million dollars.

Safaricom, Kenya's leading telecom, was the top mover on the back of active foreign selling, trading 19 million shares at 0.25 dollars, a 1.9-percent decline.

Equity Bank recorded the highest net foreign inflows, but remained unchanged at 0.40 dollars despite surging at a high of 0.41 dollars during the session.

Other top movers were Kenya Commercial Bank, KenolKobil and Kengen, which traded 3.5 million, 2.5 million and 4.1 million shares respectively.

Foreign participation, which sometimes hit 80 percent, stood at 57 percent compared to locals at 43 percent, with the investors accounting for 46.4 percent of total buying and 67.1 percent of total selling.

The All Share Index (NASI), on the other hand, was down 0.3 percent and ended the day at 163.48 from 163.96. At the bond market, trading dropped marginally to 4 million dollars from 4.3 million dollars.