NAIROBI, March 19 (Xinhua) -- All the key indices of the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) closed higher on Monday as the market recorded vibrant trading by bank stocks.

The NSE 20 Share Index surged 38.29 points to stand at 3,840.08, boosted by Safaricom, Kenya Power, Equity Bank, CF Stanbic and KenolKobil, which went up from 4 percent to 6 percent.

The All Share Index (NASI) edged up 2.56 points to stand at 186.65 while the NSE 25 Share Index gained 78.09 points to close at 4,848.40.

The banking sector recorded the most trading, accounting for 66.4 percent of the day's traded value. The counter was boosted by Equity Bank, which touched a 12-month high of 0.53 U.S. dollars with 9 million shares.

Kenya Commercial Bank, Cooperative Bank and Barclays Bank followed with 6.5 million, 3.5 million and 2.1 million shares respectively.

However, the top traded stock was Safaricom with 11 million shares.

A total of 41 million shares valued at 19 million dollars were transacted, up from 18.7 million shares worth 6.6 million dollars on Friday.

Bond turnover fell to 9.3 million dollars, down from 36 million dollars posted on Friday. Enditem