Dipo Olowookere
By Modupe Gbadeyanka
The eventual listing of MTN Nigeria shares on the premium board of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday caused a rebound of the market indicators to the positive territory.
The equity market, which had been in the dungeon for over a week, appreciated by 0.54 percent yesterday to reduce the year-to-date loss to 9.52 percent.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 152.11 points to finish at 28,438.19 points, while the market capitalisation significantly rose by N1.9 trillion as a result of the listing of 20.4 billion units of MTN shares at N90 each, which added about N1.8 trillion to the market value to close at N12.526 trillion against the N10.627 trillion of the previous day.
During trading yesterday, the volume of equities exchanged by investors improved by 76.73 percent to 312.4 million from 176.7 million, while the value rose by 35.38 percent to N2.8 billion from N2.1 billion.
The improvement in the transactions was buoyed by the interest in the shares Transcorp as the stock traded 105.5 million units valued at N130.1 million.
Trailing it closely were Access Bank, which sold 23.5 million units worth N153.6 million, and FCMB, which transacted 23.2 million units for N39.3 million.
UBA sold 19.7 million shares valued at N121.5 million, while Zenith Bank exchanged 16.4 million shares for N325.3 million.
On the price movement chart, Unilever Nigeria topped the risers’ table after adding N1 to its share price to finish at N32 per share.
NPF Microfinance Bank gained 13 kobo to end at N1.47k per share, while Union Bank appreciated by 10 kobo to settle at N6.85k per share.
NAHCO rose by 5 kobo to close at N3.18k per share, while ABC Transport added 2 kobo to its share value to close at 29 kobo per share.
On the flip side, Nigerian Breweries led the decliners’ chart yesterday with N2.50k going off from its opening price of N65 to close at N62.50k per share unit.
Dangote Cement lost N2 to settle at N176 per share, while Guinness Nigeria depreciated by 95 kobo to close at N49.05k per share.
GTBank declined by 60 kobo to finish at N31 per share, while Zenith Bank went down by 45 kobo to end at N19.55k per share.
