Nairobi, July 20 -- Shares of insurance firm Britam have jumped to an 11-year high of Sh19.95 in the wake of a rally this month on investors' expectations that the company will resume paying dividends after a six-year drought.

The company's stock has gained 60 percent in the last three weeks, double the gain it had made in the first six months of the year. Its year-to-date gain of 119 percent is only second to Car & General (136 percent) among the top-performing stocks at the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE).

The company's market capitalisation -the measure of investor wealth-has now risen by Sh18.7 billion to Sh50.3 billion over the three weeks as a result of the share price rally.

Analysts said that the counter has seen speculative ...