Nairobi, March 5 -- The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has shed Sh132.74 billion in valuation over the last four days after coming under pressure from selling by local institutional investors who are increasing their holdings of cash and cash equivalents in the face of rising global risks brought by the war pitting Iran against Israel and United States.

By close of trading on Thursday, the NSE was headed to its biggest weekly loss in market capitalisation this year, reversing some of the gains that had seen the bourse post a year-to-date return of 15.8 percent or Sh465.53 billion by the end of last week.

In the foreign exchange market, the shilling weakened to Sh129.20 yesterday, as per the Central Bank's official rate, having traded...