Seplat, 18 Other Equities Lift Market by 0.07%

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The equity market in Nigeria recorded the first growth of this week on Thursday, rising slightly by 0.07 percent.

The closure in the green territory on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was buoyed by the performances of 19 stocks led by Seplat.

The oil stock ended the day with a price appreciation of N23 to settle at N568 per unit, while its counterpart in the sector, Forte Oil, grew its share value by N2.40k to finish at N26.70k per share.

Dangote Flour continued its bullish run with a gain of N1.25k to end at N14.15k per share, Nigerian Breweries appreciated by N1 despite releasing a disappointing Q1 2019 results to close at N65 per share, while Stanbic IBTC in the financial services sector rose by 80 kobo to settle at N47 per share.

On the flip side, Guinness Nigeria led the losers’ table, which had 16 other stocks on it. The brewery giant lost N5.40k of its share price to close at N48.60k per share.

It was followed by Julius Berger, which lost N2.50k to end at N22.50k per share, and Dangote Cement, which fell by N1.20k to settle at N188 per share.

UAC Nigeria depreciated by 65 kobo to finish at N6.30k per share, while Berger Paints fell by 50 kobo to close at N8 per share.

Unlike the previous session, the volume of equities transacted at the market improved by 85.82 percent from 304.9 million to 566.5 million, while the value rose by 176.29 percent from N2.6 billion to N7.3 billion.

Shares of Julius Berger dominated the activity chart, accounting for a turnover of 218 million shares sold for N4.3 billion.

Japaul Oil traded 94.4 million units worth N21.9 million, while Transcorp transacted 31 million shares for N34 million.

Unilever Nigeria exchanged 30 million equities valued at N929.5 million, while FBN Holdings sold 20.2 million shares for N157.9 million.

An analysis of the major market indices showed that the All-Share Index improved on Thursday by 21.13 points to close at 29,919.44 points, while the market capitalisation increased by N8 billion to finish at N11.244 trillion.