Nairobi, Feb. 18 -- Low-value transactions on the Nairobi bourse including single share trading have been made expensive by the Sh2 stamp duty charge, hurting small investors.

The stamp duty -charged for every Sh10,000- has pushed fees as a share of total transactions to more than seven percent on small value transactions with those under Sh100 being the hardest hit.

A buyer of a single share of Absa Bank Kenya on Tuesday would have parted with up to 7.78 percent in fees, the highest of which is stamp duty at Sh2.

By bidding Sh30.20 for the single Absa share, an investor would have been required to pay Sh2.45 in charges including the Sh2 stamp duty and Sh0.34 in brokerage commissions with the balance being minor charges collected by th...